Recurring Meeting of Cleveland Clinic - Stanford University

Date: January 17, 2014

Time: 2:00 PM EST

Means: Conference Call

Attendees:

1. Ahmet Erdemir (Cleveland Clinic)
2. Craig Bennetts (Cleveland Clinic)
3. Joy Ku (Stanford University)
4. Henry Kwong (Stanford University)

Agenda:

1. Progress on mockup interface development for the compute gateway to Simtk.

   • http://wiki.simtk.org/openknee/Specifications/CloudComputingPrototype

2. Update on the involvement with XSEDE to build a gateway.
3. Explore the possibility of a data server.
4. Decide action items for next meeting.
5. Other.

Immediate Action Items:

• Stanford University (Joy & Henry)

  • Update the mock-up interface and establish hooks to send a call out to a server.
  • Follow up with preparations for an XSEDE start-up allocation.
  • Follow up the status of bug report on editing task privacy in the task manager.

• Cleveland Clinic (Ahmet & Craig)

  • Update the cloud computing specifications wiki page to provide information on handling FEBio log files.
  • Report bug on task display problems (part of task manager).

Notes:

1. Progress on mockup interface development for the compute gateway to Simtk.

   • Joy provided a link to a mockup interface. The mockup was built with a few changes in order to make it more generalizable. For example software is used instead of FEBio version, model is used instead of FEBio model. In the drop-down menu, the software may need be listed more explicity rather than just the version, e.g., FEBio v1.6.0 instead of v1.6.0. It may be possible to provide a drop-down menu for the Model Configuration File to allow extensibility. At this moment a single configuration file should be sufficient. Default e-mail is associated with the Simtk.org user account. It will be modifiable.

   • The text box where the contents of the configuration file resides is resizable. Unfortunately, a scrollbar does not appear when the contents are larger than the visible area. It is possible to move up and down. The textbox also wraps lines. Henry raised the issue of configuration file size. These are expected to be smaller than model files. They are essentially abridged versions of the model, providing only desirable parameters for editing, i.e., node and element definitions, which significantly increase model file size, are not included.

   • FEBio licensing (academic open source, not fully free and open source) will require the user to confirm their intended use. Conditions of use can be provided around the SUBMIT button area, including a radio button confirming agreement from the user.

   • At the background for simulations and for delivery of results, all generated files, e.g. new configuration, updated model, and results files, may include username and time stamp as part of their filenames for unique representation and bookkeeping.
   • The e-mail notification may be staged; one confirming the request for job submission, one informing the user that the job is in the queue, one informing the user that the job is completed and results are available. Any failures preventing generation of new files and solution difficulties can also be reported in these e-mails. A user interface can support this notification system by providing a summarized display of jobs (completed or in progress) for a specific user. Craig will update the wiki to provide information on handling the FEBio log file. This file can be used to provide feedback on job completion.
   • Upcoming goals are to update the mock-up interface based on these discussions and send a call out to some server to start prototyping the backend for handling simulation files.
2. Update on the involvement with XSEDE to build a gateway.
   • Stanford University team is continuing conversations with XSEDE representatives at their university for the development of an XSEDE gateway. The group needs to submit a startup allocation. Joy expects a submission within a month. A few projects will be selected for prototyping a broadly applicable platform. Open Knee(s) will be one of them. The startup requests allow asking for resources for staff time, up to 25% FTE. Joy's goal is to have a prototype ready to present at WCB 2014.
3. Explore the possibility of a data server.
   • Joy described that Simtk.org does not have a canned solution for storing data. Large amounts of data is resource intensive. Some users utilize the Downloads section; pack things differently, utilize certain file naming conventions, and exploit category pages.
4. Decide action items for next meeting.
   • See Immediate Action Items above.
5. Other.
   • Bug in updating tasks public or private (in task manager) has been reported and in the queue.
   • Some tasks are showing blank (in task manager). Ahmet needs to officially report the bug.