Distributed and Parallel Computing Technologies Portfolio Assignment 1 | UOB

Assignment Brief 

For this assignment, you need to form groups of either 3 or 4 students.

• Each group will select and investigate a specific area of distributed and parallel technologies. The goal is to gain background knowledge and explore state-of-the-art approaches and cutting-edge applications in your chosen area.
• The specific area for your research should be chosen from the list of keywords provided on the Assignment Group tab of the BREO site. Your group's investigation should focus on the selected area.
• You are expected to utilize knowledge from lectures and practical sessions, referencing them directly in your report to explain the background and rationale behind the state-of-the-art technologies.
• You should substantiate your work with well-referenced secondary research relying on several research papers published preferably in journals, as well as conference papers or in research books. Each group member should select and review at least one research paper.  Well known open-source projects can also be considered. After conducting sufficient research, 
  Your group will need to:

1.  Prepare and provide a presentation for interview during the practical sessions of the unit in week 4 (on 19th and 21st Feb 2025). It provides the opportunity to present work with a clear and distinct delegation of the subtopics being required to complete the assessment.
2. Write and submit a portfolio discussing and summarising all your findings.

An example of the portfolio submission might be:

• Abstract (1 or 2 paragraphs only): Summarising the content and findings of your report. (All group members must contribute to this).
• Introduction (1-2 pages): Introducing the selected area of your research. (All group members must contribute to this).
• Individual Reviews of Research Papers (about 2 pages each): Discussing content of the research paper – rationale, methods and tools used, findings and conclusions.  (This is individual work – one research paper reviewed by each group member – and the name of the student writing the review must be clearly indicated).
•  Highlight of the Selected Area in the Context of Distributed and Parallel Computing Theories (2 pages): Explains the background of the knowledge and elaborating rationale behind the state-of-the art in the context of knowledge obtained from the lectures and practical sessions. Discussing the findings of the research papers reviewed from the perspectives of e.g., transparency, scalability, synchronisation etc. as part of theoretical paradigm framed by the unit. (All group members must contribute to this).
• Conclusions (1 page maximum): Concluding the report.  (All group members must contribute to this).
• References: A complete list of references used.  
• Supporting materials: To further support your understanding and vision towards the selected area. Additional materials such as sources code, git repositories, demonstration video etc. can be submitted as optional supporting materials. (The optional materials if any should be placed within the Appendix 4 of the report)
  Appendix (not counted as part of total page, recommended to be submitted as a separated file)
• Appendix1: For each of the main research papers referred to in your report you should provide - title, author(s), affiliation(s), abstract and publication details.
•  Appendix 2: Minutes for the group meeting held in the group should be attached here.
• Appendix 3: Practical session results:
• Source code and testing result for the “Calculator Restful Web Service” – 3.2 of the Week 3 Distributed practical session
• Result of week 3 Parallel Practical session on multithreading in Java
• Appendix 4: Other prototype description and link to source code (if available)

IMPORTANT:

This is a formal assignment and attention should be given to the format of this work.  You should include a title page, table of contents, heading and sub-headings, and captions for figures.  You are strongly advised to use the report template provided.

In addition, you must use a professional approach to referencing your sources of your research.   You should follow the referencing system in the template or use the Harvard Referencing System which includes citations in the body of the text to sources which are appropriately listed in the Reference list.