myGrid: An OMII-UK Node (mymes: myGrid middleware for e-Scientists) (Services and Middleware for e-Science)

科学的进步主要是通过实验取得的，通过实验，在受控的环境中研究自然发生的或人造的人工制品的性质和行为。然而，一个单独的实验通常只能说明整个故事的一部分，而真正的理解改进通常是通过整合和比较许多实验的结果来实现的。由于相关实验可能在不同的地方进行，数量非常多，涉及的数据量很大，很可能因为难以获取和解释不同的实验结果而错过许多潜在的发现。e-Science寻求使用计算工具来帮助科学家理解世界各地研究实验室产生的越来越多的科学数据，而不是仅仅被它们吓倒。电子科学家需要有效的工具来访问实验数据、分析数据、管理这些分析的结果，并将它们与其他科学家的结果联系起来。电子科学本身就是一个研究领域，在这个领域中，人们探索了理解科学数据的技术。用于使计算机、数据库、工具和人相互协作，从而运行计算机实验的软件被称为中间件。开放中间件基础设施研究所（OMII）是一个为科学家提供中间件的组织。它还从其他科学家那里收集数据，将其重新设计为高标准，以便没有开发它的人也可以轻松使用它。myGrid是一个历史悠久的项目，它为生命科学家（生物学家、化学家、医生等）提供了流行和有用的中间件。myGrid允许科学家汇集现有的全球共享或本地保存的e-Science数据集和分析，以使用工作流程学习新的课程。有超过1000种工具和数据集不是为了协同工作而设计的。工作流使它们协同工作。然后，这些工作流程可以在想要做同样的事情或调整它们的科学家之间共享，或者想要了解结果是如何产生的。myGrid存储了在计算机实验中发生的事情的历史，为什么和如何进行，以及由谁进行的（它的来源）。它还有助于管理和链接结果，并找到其他人的工具。因此，它允许在现有的实验结果上测试新的假设，并支持科学家管理和理解这些计算机实验的结果。另一种方法是手动执行此操作。myGrid非常成功，在世界各地都有很多用户，尤其是它的工作流工作台Taverna。事实证明，除了生命科学家之外，它对许多科学家都很有用。然而，软件需要变得更加健壮和易于使用，需要进行适当的测试和记录，并根据用户的早期反馈进行扩展。通过成为OMII-UK联盟的一部分，myGrid中间件可以被照顾和开发，以支持其当前用户和许多其他科学家，因此他们可以自信地使用它并依赖它。通过与OMII- uk: OGSA-DAI和南安普顿的OMII中心的密切合作，我们可以相互借鉴经验，以加强我们的软件工程过程。myGrid可以使用OMII的低级管道中间件提供面向科学家的服务。我们还将开发分布式查询技术，将Taverna工作流与来自OGSA-DAI的分布式查询链接起来。从长远来看，我们将为英国研究人员和工业界制定一个精心设计的电子基础设施的协调综合路线图。

Progress in science is largely made through experiments, whereby the properties and behaviour of naturally occurring or manufactured artefacts are studied in a controlled environment. However, a single experiment normally only tells part of the overall story, and real improvements in understanding normally emerge by integrating and comparing the results of many experiments. As relevant experiments may be carried out at different places, be extremely numerous, and involve large amounts of data, it is likely that many potential discoveries are missed because of difficulties accessing and interpreting diverse experimental results. e-Science seeks to use computational tools to assist scientists in making sense of, rather than simply being intimidated by, the increasing amount of scientific data that is being produced in research labs throughout the world. e-Scientists need effective tools for accessing experimental data, analysing it, and for managing the results of these analyses, and linking them up with other scientists results. e-Science is a research area in its own right, in which techniques are explored for making sense of scientific data. The software used to make computers, databases, tools and people cooperate and hence run in-silico experiments is called middleware. The Open Middleware Infrastructure Institute (OMII) is an organisation that supplies middleware for scientists. It also collects it from other scientists to reengineer it to a high standard so people who didn't develop it can easily use it too. One of the long-established projects that have produced popular and useful middleware for Life Scientists (that is biologists, chemists, medics and so on) is myGrid. myGrid allows scientists to bring together existing globally shared or locally kept e-Science data sets and analyses to learn new lessons using workflows. There are over 1000 tools and data sets available that were not designed to work together. The workflows make them work together. These workflows can then be shared between scientists who want to do the same or adapt them, or want to understand how results were generated. myGrid stores the history of what happened in an in-silico experiment, why and how it was performed and by who (its provenance). It also helps manage and link up results and find other people's tools. It thus allows new hypotheses to be tested over existing experimental results, and supports scientists in managing and making sense of the results of these in-silico experiments. The alternative is to do this manually.myGrid has been very successful and has many users all over the world, in particular its workflow workbench Taverna. It turns out to be useful for many scientists other than Life Scientists. However, the software needs to be made more robust and easier to use, properly tested and documented, and extended in the light of early feedback by its users. By becoming part of the OMII-UK consortium, the myGrid middleware can looked after and developed to support its current users and many other scientists so they can confidently use it and rely on it. By close collaboration with OMII-UK: OGSA-DAI and the OMII Hub at Southampton, we can draw one each others experiences to strengthen our software engineering processes. myGrid can deliver scientists-oriented that use the low-level plumbing middleware of OMII. We will also develop distributed query technology to link our Taverna workflows with distributed queries from OGSA-DAI. In the longer term we will have a coordinated integrated roadmap of well-engineered e-Infrastructure for UK researchers and industry.