EpiC: A Cyberinfrastructure that Supports the Plug-and-Play of Datasets & Algori

描述(由申请人提供)：对流行病和社会传染过程的研究对于了解、预测和预防许多影响公共健康的现象至关重要，例如传染病、饮酒和吸烟习惯。因此，改进流行病和社会传染研究对于NIDA、NIAID和NIGMS研究所的目标很重要。这一领域的研究进展很困难，因为数据集和过程是在多个时间和空间尺度上展开的，需要能够处理非线性复杂现象的应用数学和计算方法。这需要一种综合的研究方法，一次分析从单个个人到全球社会的许多层面。这种方法需要质的新技术，支持在非常不同的研究领域开发的数据分析能力、方法和可视化工具的轻松交换、组合和应用。该项目建议设计、实施、部署和维护一个用于流行病研究的计算基础设施，称为流行病网络基础设施(EPIC)。EPIC是一种全新的网络基础设施--一个支持数据集、算法和可视化组件在定制EPIC工具中轻松即插即用的“空壳”。拟议的EPIC基础设施也是独一无二的，它利用一个“学术市场”来共享常用的数据集、算法和可视化组件--EPIC工具的“填充物”。市场可能是最好的与流行的文件和内容共享社区网站相比，如Flickr(http://flickr.com/)，YouTube(http://youtube.com/)，或Wikipedia(http://wikipedia.org/).然而，学者们将不再共享图像、电影或百科全书条目，而是使用EPIC来共享数据集、算法和任何其他与流行病研究相关的项目。EPIC的总体目标是改进和促进对社会数据的多尺度分析，将其整合到动态系统建模、基于代理的建模和其他流行病过程模拟技术中；将知识和成果从专家研究领域直接转移到更广泛的跨学科科学界；以及开发开放、可用、可扩展和可持续的网络基础设施技术。这个项目建议设计、实施、部署和维护一个用于流行病研究的计算基础设施，称为流行病网络基础设施(EPIC)，以改进和促进社会数据的多尺度分析，并将其集成到系统动态建模、基于代理的建模和其他流行病过程模拟技术中。EPIC是一种全新的网络基础设施--一个支持数据集、算法和可视化组件在定制EPIC工具中轻松即插即用的“空壳”。拟议的EPIC基础设施的独特之处还在于，它利用“学术市场”来共享常用的数据集、算法和可视化组件--EPIC工具的“填充物”。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The study of epidemic and social contagion processes is crucial for the understanding, prediction, and prevention of many phenomena affecting public health, such as infectious disease, alcohol use, and smoking habits. Improving epidemic and social contagion research is therefore important to the goals of the NIDA, NIAID and NIGMS institutes. Research progress in this area is difficult because the datasets and processes unfold over multiple temporal and spatial scales, requiring applied mathematical and computational approaches that can cope with non-linear complex phenomena. This requires an integrated research approach where the many layers - from the single individual to the global society - are analyzed at once. Such an approach calls for qualitatively new technology that supports the easy exchange, combination, and application of data analysis capabilities, methodologies, and visualization tools developed in very different areas of research. This project proposes the design, implementation, deployment, and maintenance of a computational infrastructure for epidemic research called the Epidemics Cyber infrastructure (EpiC). EpiC is a qualitatively new type of cyber infrastructure -- an "empty shell" that supports the easy plug-and-play of datasets, algorithms, and visualization components in customized EpiC Tools. The proposed EpiC infrastructure is also unique in the utilization of a "scholarly marketplace" for sharing commonly used datasets, algorithms, and visualization components - the "fillings" of the EpiC Tools. The marketplace might be best compared with popular file and content sharing community sites like Flickr (http://flickr.com/), YouTube (http://youtube.com/), or Wikipedia (http://wikipedia.org/). However, instead of sharing images, movies, or encyclopedia entries, scholars will use EpiC to share datasets, algorithms, and any other items relevant to the study of epidemics. The overarching goals of EpiC are the improvement and facilitation of multi-scale analysis of social data integrated into dynamic systems modeling, agent-based modeling, and other simulation techniques for epidemic processes; the direct transfer of knowledge and results from fields of specialist research to the wider interdisciplinary scientific community; and the development of a cyber infrastructure technology that is open, usable, extensible, and sustainable. This project proposes the design, implementation, deployment, and maintenance of a computational infrastructure for epidemic research called Epidemics Cyber infrastructure (EpiC) for the improvement and facilitation of the multi-scale analysis of social data and their integration in systems dynamic modeling, agent-based modeling, and other simulation techniques for epidemic processes. EpiC is a qualitatively new type of cyber infrastructure -- an "empty shell" that supports the easy plug-and-play of datasets, algorithms, and visualization components in customized EpiC Tools. The proposed EpiC infrastructure is also unique in the utilization of a "scholarly marketplace" to share commonly used datasets, algorithms, and visualization components - the "fillings" of the EpiC Tools.