[gu-new] (08/22/07) (1) Curriki, (2) Beowulf Mini supercomputer, (3) GUS/Turkey

Wed Aug 22 13:15:55 EDT 2007

<<August 22, 2007>>
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Prof. Dr. Ali YAZICI <aliyazici at etu.edu.tr>

Prof. Dr. Suleyman Saritas <ssaritas at etu.edu.tr>

Erdogan Dogdu, Ph.D. <edogdu at etu.edu.tr>

Mr Yilmaz Cakir <y.cakir at superonline.com>

P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D., Professor <tapio.varis at uta.fi>

Heikki Hallantie <heikki.hallantie at tkk.fi>

Dr. Harold P. Sjursen <hsjursen at poly.edu>

Dear Ali:

Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT I>.

I. Curriki:

(1) With regard to the infrastructure of e-learning, I once read a news
article saying that the Turkish government would provide Internet access
line at 512 Kbps/down and 256 Kbps/up to every high schools — which is the
same as most of universities in Africa, e.g., Ethiopia and Nigeria, etc.,
with about $5,000/month.

(2) I think that this is a significant progress.

I then thought that why not the Turkish high school utilizes Curriki
approach with such Internet access — see the following list distribution;

> (04/03/07) WiKipedia type open-source courseware
> http://preview.tinyurl.com/33lgy8

Should you be interested, your TOBB ETU could act as the importer of the
technology to spread it among those high schools in Turkish language — if
necessary, Polytechnic University in Brooklyn may be able to work on this
with your people.

II. Beowulf Minisupercomputer:

(3) Your bio mentioned that you are interested in the development of Beowulf
mini supercomputer (a cluster of desktop computers) (*);

>> (*) Incidentally, my friend, Dr. Max Gilliand, piled up 50 CPUs of PDP-11
>> minicomputer in early 1970s, which was the first commercial version of
>> Beowulf mini-supercomputer (as far as I know) with the name of Heterogeneous
>> Element Processor (HEP), which was followed by the Thinking Machine of IBM,
>> etc.  I said to him that why not scatter them to every countries around the
>> world as connecting them each other with the use of then-emerging Internet —
>> which then became known as GRID technology, which concept I initiated — and
>> hence the GCEPG/GSEEED projects;
>> 
>>> McLeod, J., "Power (?) Grid!," Simulation in the Service of Society,
>>> Simulation, September 2000
>>> http://preview.tinyurl.com/22bl7v

> (a) Hiroshima University has 500 Fujitsu desktop computers. They are used by
> individual students with Window operating system in daytime, and in nighttime,
> they are interconnected together with Linux to act as a mini supercomputer.
> 
> (b) Japanese Ministry of Education encourages high schools to interconnect
> their desktop computers to perform mini supercomputer for scientists in their
> local towns.

Such a Beowulf mini supercomputer may be necessary to accommodate
comprehensive national simulation models and their associated databases for
our GSEEED project.

(4) Mr. Cakir is now promoting inexpensive laptop, so that, should you be
interesting in this approach, you may talk with him.

III. GUS/Turkey and Fund Raising:

(5) Incidentally, I and my wife are invited by Prof. Tapio Varis to attend a
Finish/Japanese event at the Tampere Hall (which is across a street from the
University of Tampere) on November 9th, 2007.

Prof. Saritas of your university informed us that he and his team may visit
the University of Tampere this fall — I then suggested him to have our mtg
together which could be around the November 9th either at the University of
Tampere or at the Helsinki University of Technology (you remember Heikki who
visited your TOBB ETU by your invitation last fall) in the following week of
November 9th event.

If you can come, we can talk together there more in details, in addition of
Prof. Dogdu’s desire of importing courses from the University of Tampere and
the Helsinki University of Technology — Tapio informed me that his
university rector is now ready to sign the MOU with your TOBB ETU, as part
of GUS/Turkey project which Mr. Cakir has been promoting.

(6) You may consider the funding sources of European Commission, Sun
Microsystems (its chairman originated the Curriki  idea), Japanese
government, etc., for this project.

Best, Tak

ATTACHMENT I 

> From: Ali YAZICI <aliyazici at etu.edu.tr>
> Reply-To: Ali YAZICI <aliyazici at etu.edu.tr>
> Date: Mon, 20 Aug 2007 08:38:54 +0300
> To: "Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D." <utsumi at columbia.edu>
> Subject: Re: Invitation to our Peace Gaming project
> 
> Thanks for all information related to GSEED. I will be back to you shortly
> with all the necessary forms filled.
> Sincerely Yours,
>  
> Note: We could not have a siginificant progress in terms of e-learning
> infrastructure. However, soon we will be having a smart classroom to start
> with. I will reconsider GUS activities accordingly during Fall 2007.
>  
> Ali Yazici

List of Distribution

Prof. Dr. Ali YAZICI
Chairman, Computer Engineering Department
TOBB ECONOMICS AND TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB)
Sögutozu Cad. No: 43 06560
Sogutozu ‑ ANKARA – TURKEY
Tel: +90 (312) 292 4063 (Direct)
       +90 (312) 292 4000 (Santral)
Fax: +90 (312) 287 1946
aliyazici at etu.edu.tr
http://www.etu.edu.tr/~aliyazici

Prof. Dr. Suleyman Saritas
Dean, Faculty of Engineering
TOBB Economics and Technology University
The Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB)
Sogutozu Caddesi 43
Sogutozu, Ankara
06560 Turkey
Tel: +90-312-292 40 61
       +90 (312) 292 4000 (pbx)
       +90 (312) 292 4061 (Direct)
Fax: +90-312-292 40 91
Cep: +90-533-631 42 26
ssaritas at etu.edu.tr
http://www.etu.edu.tr

Erdogan Dogdu, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Erasmus Institutional Coordinator
TOBB Economics and Technology University
Computer Engineering Department
Sogutozu Cad. No.43
Sogutozu, 06560
Ankara, Turkey
Tel : +90-312-292-4072
Fax : +90-312-292-4180
edogdu at etu.edu.tr
www.etu.edu.tr/~edogdu
http://www.etu.edu.tr/

Mr Yilmaz Cakir
Chairman
Turkish-Finnish Business Council
Foreign Economic Relations Board
Digital Distance Learning
Digital Platform
ARA Research Inc.
Abdi Ipekci Caddesi, Altın sokak no.2
Ahmet Kara Is Hanı Kat 2 No. 10
34-367 Nisantası
Istanbul, Turkey
Tel: +90-212-225-19-12-225-1952
Cel: +90- 532 314 84 84
Fax: +90 212 225 99 58
+90-212-225-00-58-224-1816
y.cakir at superonline.com
arayl at superonline.com

P. Tapio Varis, Ph.D., Professor
Acting President, Global University System
UNESCO Chair in Global e-Learning with applications to multiple domains
Professor and Chair of Media Education
Research Center for Vocational Education & Hypermedia Laboratory
University of Tampere
P.O.Box 229
FIN-13101 Hameenlinna
FINLAND
Tel: +358-3-614-5608--office in Hameenlinna
Tel: +358-3-215 6243--mass media lab in Tampere
GSM: +3358-50-567-9833
Fax: +358-3-614-5611
tapio.varis at uta.fi
tapio.varis at hamk.fi
tapio.varis at helsinki.fi
http://www.uta.fi/~titava
www.ecml-eu.org -- about ECML project.
http://www.uta.fi/conference/mediaskills/
and
Principal Research Specialist
Unesco-Unevoc International Centre for Technical and Vocational
Education and Training
Gorresstr 15
53113 Bonn, Germany
Tel: +358-335-51-3608
Fax: +358-335-51-3611
t.varis at unevoc.unesco.org
www.unevoc.unesco.org

Heikki Hallantie
Development Expert
Lifelong Learning Institute Dipoli
Teaching and Learning Development
Helsinki University of Technology
P.O. Box 8000
FI‑02015 HUT, Finland
phone +358 9 451 4036
fax 358 9 451 4060
gsm +358 50 309 6466
heikki.hallantie at tkk.fi

Dr. Harold P. Sjursen
Professor of Philosophy
Associate Provost for International Education and Research
Director, Liberal Studies
Polytechnic University
5 Metrotech Center
Brooklyn, New York 11201
USA
Tel: 718-260-3597
Fax: 718-788-4268
Cel: +1 (917) 743-2390
hsjursen at duke.poly.edu
hsjursen at poly.edu
hsjursen at gmail.com
http://www.poly.edu/

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***
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA
*
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.)
*
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education
*
* Founder and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of
*
*   Global University System (GUS)
*
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-5913, U.S.A.
*
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Email: utsumi at columbia.edu
*
* 
http://www.itu.int/wsis/goldenbook/search/display.asp?Quest=8032562&lang=en
*
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/
*
* Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676
*
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***