reporting: @graph: use green shading which is easier to see because 'FaceAlpha' doesn't work on octave (at least on os x)

parallel bug fix 

several bug fixes for cluster computations

1) properly manage hybrid matlab/octave computations;
2) check for function handles under octave, which cannot be saved on a mat file;
3) bug fix for non standard octave path;
4) synchronization fix under octave;
5) Retrieve missing output files when remote threads are finished;
6) check if input files have been updated, like in metropolis computations with load_mh_file=1;
7) check if output files are missing to trap synchronization failures: this may be inefficient and needs to be improved for unix/windows clusters;
8) fixed cleanup with multiple remote nodes.

2) removed return after failure of ping; some machines like hal can be connected but do not allow ping;

It is anyway impossible to have exactly the same behaviour of ilu and luinc
with respect to zero filling and maximum pivot

Fixed bug in insert_object_in_one_dimensional_cell_array routine when the original cell array is empty.