Ibercivis
Encyclopedia
Ibercivis is a distributed computing
platform which allows internet
users to participate in scientific research by donating unused computer cycles to run scientific simulations and other tasks. The project, which became operational in 2008, is a scientific collaboration between the Portuguese
and Spanish
governments, but it is open to the general public and scientific community, both within and beyond the Iberian Peninsula
. The project's name is a portmanteau of "Iberia
" and the Latin word civis, meaning "citizen".
with the cooperation of the Institute of Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems at the University of Zaragoza
, CIEMAT, CETA-CIEMAT, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and RedIris. The project tasks are issued by different scientific and technological centers in Spain with the aim of creating a functional platform for volunteer-based scientific distributed computing
. The project is a Europe
an counterpart to the successful USA-based SETI@home
and Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
(BOINC) distributed computing projects.
Ibercivis' predecessor, the University of Zaragoza-based distributed computing project Zivis, began operation in 2007, and Ibercivis itself started operating in 2008. The Zivis project was a local distributed computing application funded by the ayuntamiento
(city council) of the city of Zaragoza
. The larger-scale Ibercivis infrastructure has been used for a variety of calculating applications, including nuclear fusion
research, protein folding
and materials
simulations. In July 2009, the Ibercivis platform was extended to Portugal
, following an agreement signed by the governments of both countries during the Luso-Spanish Summit held in Zamora, Spain
, in January 2009. Several Portuguese institutions subsequently affiliated themselves with Ibercivis, including the Ministry of Science
, the Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology
at the University of Coimbra, and the LIP
experimental high-energy physics laboratory.
-funded World Community Grid
. Users can select which projects they wish to contribute to via the project's website. As of October 2011, Ibercivis encompasses eight different active projects:
Distributed computing
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...
platform which allows internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
users to participate in scientific research by donating unused computer cycles to run scientific simulations and other tasks. The project, which became operational in 2008, is a scientific collaboration between the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
and Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
governments, but it is open to the general public and scientific community, both within and beyond the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
. The project's name is a portmanteau of "Iberia
Iberia
The name Iberia refers to three historical regions of the old world:* Iberian Peninsula, in Southwest Europe, location of modern-day Portugal and Spain** Prehistoric Iberia...
" and the Latin word civis, meaning "citizen".
History
Ibercivis was developed in SpainSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
with the cooperation of the Institute of Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems at the University of Zaragoza
University of Zaragoza
The University of Zaragoza or sometimes Saragossa University is a university located in Zaragoza, in the Aragon region of Spain...
, CIEMAT, CETA-CIEMAT, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and RedIris. The project tasks are issued by different scientific and technological centers in Spain with the aim of creating a functional platform for volunteer-based scientific distributed computing
Distributed computing
Distributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...
. The project is a Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an counterpart to the successful USA-based SETI@home
SETI@home
SETI@home is an Internet-based public volunteer computing project employing the BOINC software platform, hosted by the Space Sciences Laboratory, at the University of California, Berkeley, in the United States. SETI is an acronym for the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence...
and Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
The Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing is an open source middleware system for volunteer and grid computing. It was originally developed to support the SETI@home project before it became useful as a platform for other distributed applications in areas as diverse as mathematics,...
(BOINC) distributed computing projects.
Ibercivis' predecessor, the University of Zaragoza-based distributed computing project Zivis, began operation in 2007, and Ibercivis itself started operating in 2008. The Zivis project was a local distributed computing application funded by the ayuntamiento
Ayuntamiento
Ayuntamiento In other languages of Spain:*Catalan/Valencian .*Galician .*Basque . is the general term for the council of a municipality, or sometimes the municipality itself, in Spain and Latin America. Historically Ayuntamiento was often preceded by the word excelentísimo , when referring to...
(city council) of the city of Zaragoza
Zaragoza
Zaragoza , also called Saragossa in English, is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain...
. The larger-scale Ibercivis infrastructure has been used for a variety of calculating applications, including nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
research, protein folding
Protein folding
Protein folding is the process by which a protein structure assumes its functional shape or conformation. It is the physical process by which a polypeptide folds into its characteristic and functional three-dimensional structure from random coil....
and materials
Materials science
Materials science is an interdisciplinary field applying the properties of matter to various areas of science and engineering. This scientific field investigates the relationship between the structure of materials at atomic or molecular scales and their macroscopic properties. It incorporates...
simulations. In July 2009, the Ibercivis platform was extended to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, following an agreement signed by the governments of both countries during the Luso-Spanish Summit held in Zamora, Spain
Zamora, Spain
Zamora is a city in Castile and León, Spain, the capital of the province of Zamora. It lies on a rocky hill in the northwest, near the frontier with Portugal and crossed by the Duero river, which is some 50 km downstream as it reaches the Portuguese frontier...
, in January 2009. Several Portuguese institutions subsequently affiliated themselves with Ibercivis, including the Ministry of Science
Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education
The Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education , MCTES, is a Portuguese government ministry.-External links:*...
, the Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology
Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology
The Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology is a bioscience and biomedicine research institute of the University of Coimbra, in Coimbra, Portugal. Its researchers come from three faculties of the University of Coimbra: the Faculties of Medicine, Pharmacy, and Science and Technology at the...
at the University of Coimbra, and the LIP
Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particles Physics
The Laboratory of Instrumentation and Experimental Particle Physics ' is a state-run Portuguese research laboratory created in 1986 under the sponsorship of the National Foundation for Science of the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education...
experimental high-energy physics laboratory.
Number of participants
At its inception in 2008, Ibercivis had 3,000 registered users hosting its various projects. By October 2011, this figure had risen to over 17,000, distributed across 124 countries. Of the 45,567 individual hosting devices registered with the project, 4,850 are active on a weekly basis.Projects
Ibercivis is intended to run indefinitely, and is designed to run several simultaneous applications belonging to different scientific disciplines, in a manner similar to the IBMIBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
-funded World Community Grid
World Community Grid
World Community Grid is an effort to create the world's largest public computing grid to tackle scientific research projects that benefit humanity...
. Users can select which projects they wish to contribute to via the project's website. As of October 2011, Ibercivis encompasses eight different active projects:
- Amiloide: searching for drugs against neurodegenerative amyloid diseases: the AMILOIDE project aims to search digital libraries of millions of compounds for potential drugs to interfere with the formation of aggregates and amyloidAmyloidAmyloids are insoluble fibrous protein aggregates sharing specific structural traits. Abnormal accumulation of amyloid in organs may lead to amyloidosis, and may play a role in various neurodegenerative diseases.-Definition:...
fibers, which can lead to neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, the main target diseases being studied are familial amyloid polyneuropathyFamilial amyloid polyneuropathyFamilial amyloid polyneuropathy , also called transthyretin-related hereditary amyloidosis, transthyretin amyloidosis or Corino de Andrade's disease, is an autosomal dominant neurodegenerative disease. It is a form of paramyloidosis, and was first identified and described by Portuguese neurologist...
(FAP) and Alzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
. This project is the responsibility of scientists of the Structural and Computational Biology Group at the Center for Neuroscience and Cell Biology (CNC) of the University of Coimbra. - Neurosim: an immersion in the molecular structure of memory: scientists at the Institute of Matter Structure, CSIC use the results of the Neurosim application to analyze the structural properties of amino acids and small peptides (sequences of a few tens of amino acids) that act in the human brainBrainThe brain is the center of the nervous system in all vertebrate and most invertebrate animals—only a few primitive invertebrates such as sponges, jellyfish, sea squirts and starfishes do not have one. It is located in the head, usually close to primary sensory apparatus such as vision, hearing,...
and nervous systemNervous systemThe nervous system is an organ system containing a network of specialized cells called neurons that coordinate the actions of an animal and transmit signals between different parts of its body. In most animals the nervous system consists of two parts, central and peripheral. The central nervous...
. By simulating the so-called energy landscape for each amino acid, key steps can be made in reconstructing the three-dimensional structure of proteins from the amino acid sequence, advancing the study of the structure and function of the human brain. - Adsorption: behaviour of confined fluids in limited spaces: the Adsorption application helps researchers from the Instituto de Química-Física Rocasolano from CSIC study the adsorptionAdsorptionAdsorption is the adhesion of atoms, ions, biomolecules or molecules of gas, liquid, or dissolved solids to a surface. This process creates a film of the adsorbate on the surface of the adsorbent. It differs from absorption, in which a fluid permeates or is dissolved by a liquid or solid...
properties of the pillared clayClayClay is a general term including many combinations of one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure.- Formation :Clay minerals...
s that are widely used as industrial catalysersCatalysisCatalysis is the change in rate of a chemical reaction due to the participation of a substance called a catalyst. Unlike other reagents that participate in the chemical reaction, a catalyst is not consumed by the reaction itself. A catalyst may participate in multiple chemical transformations....
, materials for gas storage, and industrial separation agents. This kind of clay is used in industrial processes such as the production of biofuels from vegetable fats, the storage of natural gasNatural gasNatural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
at room temperature and the storage of greenhouse gases produced by industry. - Cuanticables: quantic wires simulations: scientists of the University of Buenos AiresUniversity of Buenos AiresThe University of Buenos Aires is the largest university in Argentina and the largest university by enrollment in Latin America. Founded on August 12, 1821 in the city of Buenos Aires, it consists of 13 faculties, 6 hospitals, 10 museums and is linked to 4 high schools: Colegio Nacional de Buenos...
use this application to study the degree to which the faults in the material of quantum wires has on their electric currentElectric currentElectric current is a flow of electric charge through a medium.This charge is typically carried by moving electrons in a conductor such as wire...
. For this purpose, they develop a theoretical model which simulates the quantum wire, the impurities and the electrodes to which the quantum wire connects, and study the behaviour of the current that is generated across the wire when an external voltage is applied to it. - Sanidad: improved diagnostics: ionizing radiationIonizing radiationIonizing radiation is radiation composed of particles that individually have sufficient energy to remove an electron from an atom or molecule. This ionization produces free radicals, which are atoms or molecules containing unpaired electrons...
is used in health applications ranging from basic diagnostic tests in a modern hospital (in radiologyRadiologyRadiology is a medical specialty that employs the use of imaging to both diagnose and treat disease visualized within the human body. Radiologists use an array of imaging technologies to diagnose or treat diseases...
, nuclear medicineNuclear medicineIn nuclear medicine procedures, elemental radionuclides are combined with other elements to form chemical compounds, or else combined with existing pharmaceutical compounds, to form radiopharmaceuticals. These radiopharmaceuticals, once administered to the patient, can localize to specific organs...
and laboratory tests) to the treatment of cancer by radiotherapy. For these purposes, both actual radioactive materials (in the form of seeds or injectable material) and complex equipment that generates photonPhotonIn physics, a photon is an elementary particle, the quantum of the electromagnetic interaction and the basic unit of light and all other forms of electromagnetic radiation. It is also the force carrier for the electromagnetic force...
beams and electrons can be utilised. Physicists from Andalucía use the Sanidad simulations to improve knowledge of the safe use of radiation in healthcare, and to explore potential new applications. - Criticalidad: electron transport in disordered systems with fractal properties: the Criticalidad project helps MexicanMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
investigators understand the properties and effects of fractalityFractalA fractal has been defined as "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity...
in the transport of electronElectronThe electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
s through disordered systemsChaos theoryChaos theory is a field of study in mathematics, with applications in several disciplines including physics, economics, biology, and philosophy. Chaos theory studies the behavior of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, an effect which is popularly referred to as the...
in the Anderson transitionAnderson localizationIn condensed matter physics, Anderson localization, also known as strong localization, is the absence of diffusion of waves in a disordered medium. This phenomenon is named after the American physicist P. W...
. - Soluvel: researching solubility of toxic and pharmaceutical compounds: the aim of the Soluvel project is to calculate the solvationSolubilitySolubility is the property of a solid, liquid, or gaseous chemical substance called solute to dissolve in a solid, liquid, or gaseous solvent to form a homogeneous solution of the solute in the solvent. The solubility of a substance fundamentally depends on the used solvent as well as on...
energies of certain soluble compounds, so as to identify through computation which compounds may prove toxic to humans, and which may serve as effective medical drugs. The project is being conducted by researchers from the Laboratory of Molecular Simulation of Separation and Reaction Engineering (LSRE), a division of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of PortoUniversity of PortoThe University of Porto is a Portuguese public university located in Porto, and founded 22 March 1911. It is the largest Portuguese university by number of enrolled students and has one of the most noted research outputs in Portugal...
. - Primalidad: search for Wilson primes: a "citizen science" project open to all mathematicians, the Primalidad application searches for the next Wilson prime number - the first three having been 5, 13 and 563. It is conjectured that the fourth Wilson prime must be larger than 5 x 108.
Former projects
Ibercivis projects that have been completed or discontinued as of October 2011 include:- Fusion: a star on your screen: this application helped scientists at the Research Center for Energy Environment and Technology (CIEMAT) and at the Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems (BIFI) perform simulations of the plasmaPlasmaPlasma may refer to:* Blood plasma, the yellow-colored liquid component of blood, in which blood cells are suspended* Plasma , an ionized state of matter similar to a gas...
s that will be produced in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). The ITER project, which will begin operation in 2018, seeks to make nuclear fusion power a reality, replicating on Earth conditions typically found inside stars. - Docking: looking for anti-cancer drugs: the Docking application assisted the search for new medicines through the simulation of protein docking. The Bioinformatics Unit of the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CSICCSICThe Spanish National Research Council is the largest public institution dedicated to research in Spain and the third largest in Europe...
-UAM) developed a platform to allow the automatic simulation of interactions of proteins and small molecules. Its purpose was to find effective drugs to treat serious illnesses, such as cancerCancerCancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. - Materials: simulation of magnetic systems: the Materials application aided physicists from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Universidad de Extremadura and the Institute for Biocomputation and Physics of Complex Systems in discovering how non-magnetic impurities in magnetic materials modify the properties of their transition from a magnetic state to a non-magnetic one. The knowledge of these transitions is important not only from a theoretical point of view but also may help develop many fields of technologyTechnologyTechnology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, such as magnetic hard disks and superconducting materials. - Nanoluz: light at a nanoscale: knowing how lightLightLight or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that is visible to the human eye, and is responsible for the sense of sight. Visible light has wavelength in a range from about 380 nanometres to about 740 nm, with a frequency range of about 405 THz to 790 THz...
reacts at a nanometer scale is a scientific challenge with important implications for the construction of new materials, development of new computing and communication systems and the improvement of technologies such as solar panels. Using the Nanoluz application, scientists at the Institute of Optics Daza Valdés CSIC investigated the behavior of light in metal nanoparticles, seeking to develop systems that could simplify medical and biological analysis. - IberNet: let's research inside Ibercivis: with this project, researchers sought to study and represent the structure of Ibercivis as a social networkSocial networkA social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
and try to export their conclusions to other social networks, to help with the study and prediction of the dynamics of a mass social environment.
See also
- Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network ComputingBerkeley Open Infrastructure for Network ComputingThe Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing is an open source middleware system for volunteer and grid computing. It was originally developed to support the SETI@home project before it became useful as a platform for other distributed applications in areas as diverse as mathematics,...
- CrowdsourcingCrowdsourcingCrowdsourcing is the act of sourcing tasks traditionally performed by specific individuals to a group of people or community through an open call....
- Distributed computingDistributed computingDistributed computing is a field of computer science that studies distributed systems. A distributed system consists of multiple autonomous computers that communicate through a computer network. The computers interact with each other in order to achieve a common goal...
- List of distributed computing projects
- NeuroscienceNeuroscienceNeuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system. Traditionally, neuroscience has been seen as a branch of biology. However, it is currently an interdisciplinary science that collaborates with other fields such as chemistry, computer science, engineering, linguistics, mathematics,...
- Nuclear fusionNuclear fusionNuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
- Science and technology in PortugalScience and technology in PortugalScience and technology in Portugal is mainly conducted within a network of research and development units belonging to public universities and state-managed autonomous research institutions...
- Supercomputing in EuropeSupercomputing in EuropeSeveral centers for supercomputing exist across Europe, and distributed access to them is coordinated by European initiatives to facilitate high-performance computing...
- World Community GridWorld Community GridWorld Community Grid is an effort to create the world's largest public computing grid to tackle scientific research projects that benefit humanity...
External links
- Official website
- Official Portuguese website
- Official Spanish website
- BIFI - Institute of Complex Systems Biocomputing and Physics
- Centre for Neuroscience and Cell Biology
- University of Zaragoza
- CIEMAT - Centro de Investigationes Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas
- ITER - International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor