Distributed Interaction and Control Strategies for P2P and Grid Systems

Distributed Interaction and Control Strategies for P2P and Grid Systems
Kevin Almeroth, John Brevik and Rich Wolski
Winter 2005

Overview

In the various emerging large-scale computing environments (e.g. peer-to-peer, Grid, global computing, etc.) that can be characterized as "distributed," various economic and game-theoretic schemes have been proposed in order to encourage the sharing of computing resources and/or to determine their allocation. We will explore this general space of ideas, including but not limited to market economies, auctions, and reputation-based systems. The emphasis here will be on gaining a precise understanding of the concepts and language necessary to understand the literature and to attack related problems.

Course Information

Time and Location: Wednesdays between 3:00pm and 4:00pm in Trailer 932 (the Digital Classroom)
To sign up to present a paper, please email Andrew Mutz at

Reading Schedule

Date Presenter Paper Details

Jan 5 -- --

Jan 12 Andrew Mutz Robert Gibbons. "An Introduction to Applicable Game Theory". The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 11, No. 1. (Winter, 1997), pp. 127-149.

Jan 19 -- Attending Ismo Rakkolainen's talk instead

Jan 26 Andrew Mutz Contintuation of Robert Gibbons. "An Introduction to Applicable Game Theory". The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 11, No. 1. (Winter, 1997), pp. 127-149

Feb 2 Brian McKinnon *CLASS WILL BE HELD AT 1:00* Sheng Zhong, Jiang Chen Yang and Richard Yang "Sprite: A Simple, Cheat-Proof, Credit-Based System for Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks". INFOCOM 2003. Twenty-Second Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies.

Feb 9 Gayatri Swamynathan Sepandar D. Kamvar, Mario T. Schlosser and Hector Garcia-Molina "The EigenTrust Algorithm for Reputation Management in P2P Networks". In Proceedings of the Twelfth International World Wide Web Conference, May, 2003.

Feb 16 Gayatri Swamynathan Continuation of Sepandar D. Kamvar, Mario T. Schlosser and Hector Garcia-Molina "The EigenTrust Algorithm for Reputation Management in P2P Networks". In Proceedings of the Twelfth International World Wide Web Conference, May, 2003.

Feb 23 Matthew Allen Sonja Buchegger and Jean-Yves Le Boudec "A Robust Reputation System for P2P and Mobile Ad-hoc Networks". P2P and Mobile Ad-hoc Networks, Second Workshop on the Economics of Peer-to-Peer Systems, June 2004

Mar 2 Fred Tu Stephen Smale "Dynamics in General Equilibrium Theory". The American Economic Review, Vol. 66, No.2, Papers and Proceedings of the Eighty-eighth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May, 1976), 288-294.
Herbert Scarf "Some Examples of Global Instability of the Competitive Equilibrium". International Economic Review, Vol. 1 No. 3 (Sep., 1960), 157-172.

Mar 9 Fred Tu Continuation of Stephen Smale "Dynamics in General Equilibrium Theory". The American Economic Review, Vol. 66, No.2, Papers and Proceedings of the Eighty-eighth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May, 1976), 288-294.
Herbert Scarf "Some Examples of Global Instability of the Competitive Equilibrium". International Economic Review, Vol. 1 No. 3 (Sep., 1960), 157-172.

Mar 16 Ryan Garver Hal R. Varian. "Economic Mechanism Design for Computerized Agents". In USENIX Workshop on Electronic Commerce, New York, NY, July 1995.

sometime next quarter -- Michael P. Wellman, William E. Walsh, Peter R. Wurman and Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason. "Auction Protocols for Decentralized Scheduling". Games and Economic Behavior 35, 271-303 (2001)

Unscheduled Publications

I. E. Sutherland. "A Futures Market in Computer Time". Communications of the ACM, 11(6):449--451, 1968.
James F. Kurose and Rahul Simha. "A Microeconomic Approach to Optimal Resource Allocation in Distributed Computer Systems". IEEE Transactions on Computers, Volume 38, Issue 5 (May 1989) p.705-717

Date	Presenter	Paper Details
Jan 5	--	--
Jan 12	Andrew Mutz	Robert Gibbons. "An Introduction to Applicable Game Theory". The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 11, No. 1. (Winter, 1997), pp. 127-149.
Jan 19	--	Attending Ismo Rakkolainen's talk instead
Jan 26	Andrew Mutz	Contintuation of Robert Gibbons. "An Introduction to Applicable Game Theory". The Journal of Economic Perspectives, Vol. 11, No. 1. (Winter, 1997), pp. 127-149
Feb 2	Brian McKinnon	*CLASS WILL BE HELD AT 1:00* Sheng Zhong, Jiang Chen Yang and Richard Yang "Sprite: A Simple, Cheat-Proof, Credit-Based System for Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks". INFOCOM 2003. Twenty-Second Annual Joint Conference of the IEEE Computer and Communications Societies.
Feb 9	Gayatri Swamynathan	Sepandar D. Kamvar, Mario T. Schlosser and Hector Garcia-Molina "The EigenTrust Algorithm for Reputation Management in P2P Networks". In Proceedings of the Twelfth International World Wide Web Conference, May, 2003.
Feb 16	Gayatri Swamynathan	Continuation of Sepandar D. Kamvar, Mario T. Schlosser and Hector Garcia-Molina "The EigenTrust Algorithm for Reputation Management in P2P Networks". In Proceedings of the Twelfth International World Wide Web Conference, May, 2003.
Feb 23	Matthew Allen	Sonja Buchegger and Jean-Yves Le Boudec "A Robust Reputation System for P2P and Mobile Ad-hoc Networks". P2P and Mobile Ad-hoc Networks, Second Workshop on the Economics of Peer-to-Peer Systems, June 2004
Mar 2	Fred Tu	Stephen Smale "Dynamics in General Equilibrium Theory". The American Economic Review, Vol. 66, No.2, Papers and Proceedings of the Eighty-eighth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May, 1976), 288-294. Herbert Scarf "Some Examples of Global Instability of the Competitive Equilibrium". International Economic Review, Vol. 1 No. 3 (Sep., 1960), 157-172.
Mar 9	Fred Tu	Continuation of Stephen Smale "Dynamics in General Equilibrium Theory". The American Economic Review, Vol. 66, No.2, Papers and Proceedings of the Eighty-eighth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May, 1976), 288-294. Herbert Scarf "Some Examples of Global Instability of the Competitive Equilibrium". International Economic Review, Vol. 1 No. 3 (Sep., 1960), 157-172.
Mar 16	Ryan Garver	Hal R. Varian. "Economic Mechanism Design for Computerized Agents". In USENIX Workshop on Electronic Commerce, New York, NY, July 1995.
sometime next quarter	--	Michael P. Wellman, William E. Walsh, Peter R. Wurman and Jeffrey K. MacKie-Mason. "Auction Protocols for Decentralized Scheduling". Games and Economic Behavior 35, 271-303 (2001)