UAB computer scientist Ragib Hasan, Ph.D., has been attracting attention in the computing community for his research into “waste data”—the vast amounts of computer hard drives that are occupied by files that are never used. “I got interested in this idea and did some tests on my own computers,” Hasan says. “I found that anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of the files on my laptop were not being read. I later repeated that on my desktop and on the department file server at Johns Hopkins and found the same numbers. So then I thought about the impact of this much waste and how we could handle it.”
The initial reaction to the waste-data problem is obvious, Hasan continues: Just delete the files. “But deletion isn’t free,” he points out. “If the files are on a hard disk, it takes considerable time to delete them. And if you have a smartphone or something else with a flash drive, you are going to be using up the available life cycle of the drive. Many people don’t realize this, but a flash drive has a fixed life cycle—often 10,000 times.”
Another seemingly simple solution—adding more storage—is also more complicated than it at first appears. “A terabyte drive may only cost $50 these days, but the total amount of person hours to maintain that amount of storage is five to seven times the amount that is spent on the drive itself.”
The problem is especially important for the “hundreds and thousands of disk drives” in cloud computer centers, Hasan says. He is convinced that the computing industry needs to take inspiration from real-life waste-management operators and focus on three steps: reduce, reuse, recycle. “In my research I have come up with a number of techniques for reducing data waste,” Hasan says. He will continue to work with student researchers at UAB to refine these techniques.
—Matt Windsor
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In addition to his research interests in cloud computing and waste data, UAB computer scientist Ragib Hasan, Ph.D., is focusing on one of the Web’s most popular sites: Wikipedia. Since 2005, he has been an administrator for both the English- and Bengali-language sections of the site.
Hasan is convinced that one of the greatest threats to Wikipedia is the practice of using false identities to deface or otherwise manipulate entries in the vast online encyclopedia, especially hot topics such as abortion or the conflict between India and Pakistan. “Wikipedia is built on discussion and consensus, but people can game the system by creating multiple fake identities,” Hasan explains. “That way they can create a fake majority and throw its support behind a position.”
Wikipedia deals with this threat by looking at the IP addresses of posters—the string of numbers that identifies unique computers connected to the Internet. “That doesn’t always work, though, because people can hide or switch their IP addresses,” Hasan says. “I’m working with Dr. Thamar Solario in the UAB Department of Computer and Information Sciences to create a tool that analyzes what people are saying in a discussion thread to identify individual users who are masquerading as other people.”
Secure Delivery: The ability to verify the source and history of digital documents is a major interest of businesses and governments. Hasan and UAB assistant professor of computer and information sciences Thamar Solorio, Ph.D., are exploring the use of secure identifiers for documents that can determine the data’s provenance. The research has attracted the attention of the U.S. Office of Naval Research, which recently awarded the team a three-year grant to support the project.
—Matt Windsor
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UAB Researcher Advances Security on Computing’s Frontier
By Matt Windsor
UAB computer security expert
Ragib Hasan (standing) is looking for ways to make data more secure as businesses look to take advantage of the opportunities presented by cloud computing.Imagine you are a security guard, charged with protecting a diamond necklace. Unfortunately, the necklace has been broken into a few million pieces—and they’re scattered from Seattle to Singapore and everywhere in between.
That’s the essence of the problem facing UAB computer security expert Ragib Hasan, Ph.D. Hasan is searching for ways to safeguard the far-flung packets of data created when companies entrust their information to “the cloud.” He is also preparing students for a new wave of technological change by getting them up to speed on one of the hottest topics in tech.
Apple and Google have invested heavily in cloud computing in recent years, offering users the chance to store their music and other files on computer servers rather than on their personal machines. The advantage: instant access to songs, documents, and other data from any device, whether it’s a cell phone, the office laptop, or a home computer.
A Free-flowing Conversation with UAB’s Dr. Gridlock
By Matt Windsor
Everyone likes to complain about traffic. UAB transportation expert Virginia Sisiopiku, Ph.D., is actually doing something about it. Sisiopiku, an associate professor in the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering, is following several parallel lanes of traffic-related research that could lead to a quicker, happier, healthier commute for the rest of us—without years of paralyzing construction.
UAB transportation expert Virginia Sisiopiku creates 3D digital replicas of local roadways to help tame traffic."In the past, the answer to traffic was to build new roads and add new lanes, but we have come to the conclusion that this does not work,” she says. “Eventually, your money and available space run out, and the traffic is still clogged. We are looking at ways to reduce traffic congestion and the consequences—everything from increased travel times to pollution—without building more infrastructure.”
Here is a quick spin through the science of traffic research—and four potential solutions being pursued by Sisiopiku and other researchers at the UAB School of Engineering.
New Techniques Could Accelerate Drug Discovery
By Matt Windsor
In his UAB lab, Stephen Aller (far left) is exploring new ways to dramatically speed up the drug-discovery process for cystic fibrosis, cancer, and other diseases. Aller's research team includes (left to right) Zachary Tibbs (standing), Kimberly Jaimes (sitting), Lindsay Turner, Jessica Makofske, and Jingzhi Li.
If you could look inside the lungs of a child with cystic fibrosis, you would see a layer of thick, sticky gunk coating every surface, providing a rich haven for bacteria and making it very hard to breathe. If you could look into the child’s future, the view wouldn’t be pretty, either. Every day, her parents will have to pound on her back in order to break up the accumulated mucus and allow her to cough it out. While previous generations of patients with cystic fibrosis often died in their teens, this child will at least have a good chance of living into her 30s. However, her lung disease will have worsened to the point that she will become disabled and, eventually, die.
Medications have played a major role in extending the lifespan of patients with cystic fibrosis. Antibiotics help prevent serious lung and sinus infections, inhaled medicines open the airways, and enzyme therapies can thin mucus. But the root of the problem, revealed in 1989 in part by UAB scientists, lies in a single defective gene. And at the moment doctors don’t have anything that can touch it.
The gene produces a protein called the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR). When CFTR is functioning normally, it shuttles chloride and thiocyanate ions through cell membranes, which helps keep mucus thin and flowing freely. But when CFTR is defective, the channels can become partially or completely blocked, or they may never become embedded in the cell wall in the first place.