Scalable Coherent Interface (SCI) is an innovative interconnect standard (ANSI/IEEE Std 1596-1992) addressing the high-performance computing and networking domain. This book describes in depth one specific application of SCI: its use as a high-speed interconnection network (often called a system area network, SAN) for compute clusters built from commodity workstation nodes. The editors and authors, coming from both academia and industry, have been instrumental in the SCI standardization process, the development and deployment of SCI adapter cards, switches, fully integrated clusters, and software systems, and are closely involved in various research projects on this important interconnect. This thoroughly cross-reviewed state-of-the-art survey covers the complete hardware/software spectrum of SCI clusters, from the major concepts of SCI, through SCI hardware, networking, and low-level software issues, various programming models and environments, up to tools and application experiences.

From driving, flying, and swimming, to digging for unknown objects in space exploration, autonomous robots take on varied shapes and sizes. In part, autonomous robots are designed to perform tasks that are too dirty, dull, or dangerous for humans. With nontrivial autonomy and volition, they may soon claim their own place in human society. These robots will be our allies as we strive for understanding our natural and man-made environments and build positive synergies around us. Although we may never perfect replication of biological capabilities in robots, we must harness the inevitable emergence of robots that synchronizes with our own capacities to live, learn, and grow. This book is a snapshot of motivations and methodologies for our collective attempts to transform our lives and enable us to cohabit with robots that work with and for us. It reviews and guides the reader to seminal and continual developments that are the foundations for successful paradigms. It attempts to demystify the abilities and limitations of robots. It is a progress report on the continuing work that will fuel future endeavors. Table of Contents: Part I: Preliminaries/Agency, Motion, and Anatomy/Behaviors / Architectures / Affect/Sensors / Manipulators/Part II: Mobility/Potential Fields/Roadmaps / Reactive Navigation / Multi-Robot Mapping: Brick and Mortar Strategy / Part III: State of the Art / Multi-Robotics Phenomena / Human-Robot Interaction / Fuzzy Control / Decision Theory and Game Theory / Part IV: On the Horizon / Applications: Macro and Micro Robots / References / Author Biography / Discussion

Shared memory multiprocessors are becoming the dominant architecture for small-scale parallel computation. This book is the first to provide a coherent review of current research in shared memory multiprocessing in the United States and Japan. It focuses particularly on scalable architecture that will be able to support hundreds of microprocessors as well as on efficient and economical ways of connecting these fast microprocessors. The 20 contributions are divided into sections covering the experience to date with multiprocessors, cache coherency, software systems, and examples of scalable shared memory multiprocessors.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the First International Workshop on Communication and Architectural Support for Network-Based Parallel Computing, CANPC'97, held in San Antonio, Texas, USA, in February 1997. The 19 revised full papers presented were carefully selected from a total of 36 submissions. Among the topics addressed are processor/network interfaces, communication protocols, high-performance network technology, operating systems and architectural issues, and load balancing techniques. All in all, the papers competently describe the state-of-the-art for network-based computing systems.