August 2016 Summaries

Orobix has introduced a new cloud-based computational hemodynamics module for its VMTKLab application, set to release on September 20th, thanks to a partnership with Rescale, a leading cloud platform for simulation software and high-performance computing. VMTKLab, used by clinical researchers and biomedical engineers, now offers an end-to-end solution for patient-specific hemodynamics, including the ability to run simulations on Rescale's platform, which supports numerous concurrent simulations, facilitating large-scale clinical research. The module features the dGetto solver, optimized for internal flows and providing high-order accurate spatial approximations with second-order adaptive time integration. Orobix will host a free webinar on September 28th to demonstrate the full capabilities of VMTKLab, which supports multiple operating systems and is available for 39€. This advancement positions VMTKLab as a robust tool for the adoption of computational approaches in the vascular research domain.

JL & Associates, a Colorado-based business and engineering consultancy, faced a challenge in performing multiphase CFD analysis on boiling oil (C12H2) due to the resource-intensive nature of the task, which monopolized their computer resources for over a week. To overcome this, they utilized the Rescale platform, which allowed them to scale up to 48 cores and reduce the analysis time from 5.3 days to just 12 hours, thereby freeing up their internal resources for other projects. Josh Taylor, President of JL & Associates, highlighted how Rescale’s platform enabled efficient and cost-effective computing solutions, allowing the firm to easily manage complex analyses without compromising their local resources. Rescale, headquartered in San Francisco, provides cloud-based high-performance computing solutions and simulation software to various industries, including aerospace and energy, and is known for its secure and scalable infrastructure.

Rescale Inc., a leader in cloud high-performance computing (HPC), has established Rescale Japan K.K. and opened an office in Tokyo to enhance its growth in the Japanese market. Atsuhiko Fukuda, with extensive experience in cloud and HPC enterprise sales, has been appointed as the General Manager to oversee new and existing partnerships, leveraging his industry knowledge to expand Rescale’s presence in Japan's robust IT sector. This marks Rescale's first international office, aimed at better serving current partners and customers while building new relationships, particularly in fields like automotive, rendering software, and deep learning. Rescale CEO Joris Poort emphasizes that Japan is a crucial market, and Fukuda's expertise will support the transition of Japanese companies from legacy systems to modern cloud HPC platforms. Rescale's platform is known for providing secure, web-based simulation software solutions, catering to global Fortune 500 companies across various industries.

Rescale Engineering recently undertook a redesign of their homepage, prompting them to reassess their CSS writing approach due to challenges in scalability and responsiveness with their existing 2000-line CSS file. They identified issues with the non-reusability of CSS classes and the difficulty in managing responsive designs due to scattered media queries. Inspired by Adam Morse's article on CSS scalability, they adopted the Tachyons CSS library, which emphasizes using small, single-property classes with responsive modifiers. This change dramatically reduced the amount of CSS needed for their redesign and made implementing responsive designs more enjoyable. Tachyons provide a system of predefined font sizes and spacing scales, simplifying design decisions and enhancing consistency. However, it introduces challenges like repetition of classes across sibling elements, which can be mitigated with template systems. Rescale Engineering views this approach as a positive direction for scalable CSS systems, where efficiency is achieved by minimizing the need to write new CSS.

When building CLI or desktop applications in .NET that need to operate within a typical corporate network, developers often face challenges related to proxy configurations, especially when users are behind an authenticating HTTP proxy. By default, .NET applications can leverage the web proxy settings from Internet Explorer, which simplifies many scenarios, but authentication issues can arise, particularly the 407 ProxyAuthenticationRequired error. For proxies supporting NTLM or Negotiate authentication, adding the useDefaultCredentials=true attribute in the app.config file can automate user authentication without altering application code. However, if the proxy uses Basic or Digest authentication, developers must manually handle credentials by creating a proxy wrapper that manages credentials separately. This approach facilitates switching between default and custom credentials as needed. While .NET simplifies these configurations, challenges remain for other languages where tools like cntlm might be employed to address proxy authentication issues.