A parallel/distributed architecture for hierarchically heterogeneous web-based cooperative applications

Abstract

A new class of applications is described which requires cooperation among diverse users in multiple data and problem instance domains. The hierarchy of parallelism includes heterogeneity within a single instance of the problem, homogeneity among subsets of users within a problem domain, and multiple problem domains which share computational resources-software and hardware. The core of the architecture is a socket-server which registers clients and servers (both statically and dynamically), and assures isolation of users in separated problem domains. The users all see the system as a set of functions accessible via the WWW. The particular problem of genetic linkage analysis is used as a case study to illustrate and implement the architecture. GenoMap, the first implementation of this system is being deployed for several groups of cooperating users at multiple institutions in a study to isolate the genomic locus of the controlling gene(s) in several diseases including autism. More than 400 genetic markers are being analyzed from more than 300 individuals in this study. The users span geneticists, clinical physicians, statisticians, disease specialists, laboratory technicians, and computer scientists/engineers.