This chapter discusses leading problems linked to energy that the world is now confronting and to propose some ideas concerning possible solutions. Oil deserves special attention among all energy sources. Since the beginning of 1981, it has merely been continuing and enhancing the downward movement in consumption and prices caused by excessive rises, especially for light crudes such as those from Africa, and the slowing down of worldwide economic growth. Densely-populated oil-producing countries need to produce to live, to pay for their food and their equipment. If the economic growth of the industrialized countries were to be 4%, even if investment in the rational use of energy were pushed to the limit and the development of nonpetroleum energy sources were also pursued actively, it would be extremely difficult to prevent a sharp rise in prices. It is evident that it is absolutely necessary to pursue actively the development of coal, natural gas, and nuclear power if a physical shortage of energy is not to block economic growth.

World energy outlook

A prominent parallel data processing tool MapReduce is gaining significant momentum from both industry and academia as the volume of data to analyze grows rapidly. While MapReduce is used in many areas where massive data analysis is required, there are still debates on its performance, efficiency per node, and simple abstraction. This survey intends to assist the database and open source communities in understanding various technical aspects of the MapReduce framework. In this survey, we characterize the MapReduce framework and discuss its inherent pros and cons. We then introduce its optimization strategies reported in the recent literature. We also discuss the open issues and challenges raised on parallel data analysis with MapReduce.

https://www.cs.arizona.edu/~bkmoon/papers/sigmodrec11.pdf

Parallel data processing with MapReduce: a survey

Transposable genetic elements (TEs) comprise a vast array of DNA sequences, all having the ability to move to new sites in genomes either directly by a cut-and-paste mechanism (transposons) or indirectly through an RNA intermediate (retrotransposons). First discovered in maize plants by the

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/338/6108/758.full.pdf

Transposable Elements, Epigenetics, and Genome Evolution

Effects of large computational time steps on the computed turbulence were investigated using a fully implicit method. In turbulent channel flow computations the largest computational time step in wall units which led to accurate prediction of turbulence statistics was determined. Turbulence fluctuations could not be sustained if the computational time step was near or larger than the Kolmogorov time scale.

Effects of the computational time step on numerical solutions for turbulent flow

Glutathione Metabolism and Parkinson’s Disease

MapReduce is Google's programming model for easy development of scalable parallel applications which process huge quantity of data on many clusters. Due to its conveniency and efficiency, MapReduce is used in various applications (e.g., Web search services and online analytical processing). However, there are only few good benchmarks to evaluate MapReduce implementations by realistic testsets. In this paper, we present MRBench that is a benchmark for evaluating MapReduce systems. MRBench focuses on processing business oriented queries and concurrent data modifications. To this end, we build MRBench to deal with large volumes of relational data and execute highly complex queries. By MRBench, users can evaluate the performance of MapReduce systems while varying environmental parameters such as data size and the number of (map/reduce) tasks. Our extensive experimental results show that MRBench is a useful tool to benchmark the capability of answering critical business questions.

/pdf/mrbench-a-benchmark-for-mapreduce-framework-bec9kt3uix.pdf

MRBench: A Benchmark for MapReduce Framework

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma ligands have been shown to inhibit human lung cancers by inducing apoptosis and differentiation. In the present study, we elucidated the apoptotic mechanism of PPARgamma activation in human lung cancers by using a novel PPARgamma agonist, 1-(trans-methylimino-N-oxy)-6-(2-morpholinoethoxy)-3-phenyl-(1H-indene-2-carboxylic acid ethyl ester (KR-62980), and rosiglitazone. PPARgamma activation selectively inhibited cell viability of non-small-cell lung cancer with little effect on small-cell lung cancer and normal lung cells. The cell death induced by PPARgamma activation presented apoptotic features of oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation in A549 human non-small-cell lung cancer cell line. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) production was accompanied by increased expression of proline oxidase (POX), a redox enzyme expressed in mitochondria, upon incubation with the agonists. POX RNA interference treatment blocked PPARgamma-induced ROS formation and cytotoxicity, suggesting that POX plays a functional role in apoptosis through ROS formation. The apoptotic effects by the agonists were antagonized by bisphenol A diglycidyl ether, a PPARgamma antagonist, and by knockdown of PPARgamma expression, indicating the involvement of PPARgamma in these actions. The results of the present study suggest that PPARgamma activation induces apoptotic cell death in non-small-cell lung carcinoma mainly through ROS formation via POX induction.

Apoptotic Action of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ Activation in Human Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer Is Mediated via Proline Oxidase-Induced Reactive Oxygen Species Formation

Glutathione S-Transferase Omega 1 Activity Is Sufficient to Suppress Neurodegeneration in a Drosophila Model of Parkinson Disease

The eye colour mutant sepia (se1) is defective in PDA {6-acetyl-2-amino-3,7,8,9-tetrahydro-4H-pyrimido[4,5-b]-[1,4]diazepin-4-one or pyrimidodiazepine} synthase involved in the conversion of 6-PTP (2-amino-4-oxo-6-pyruvoyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydropteridine; also known as 6-pyruvoyltetrahydropterin) into PDA, a key intermediate in drosopterin biosynthesis. However, the identity of the gene encoding this enzyme, as well as its molecular properties, have not yet been established. Here, we identify and characterize the gene encoding PDA synthase and show that it is the structural gene for sepia. Based on previously reported information [Wiederrecht, Paton and Brown (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 2195-2200; Wiederrecht and Brown (1984) J. Biol. Chem. 259, 14121-14127; Andres (1945) Drosoph. Inf. Serv. 19, 45; Ingham, Pinchin, Howard and Ish-Horowicz (1985) Genetics 111, 463-486; Howard, Ingham and Rushlow (1988) Genes Dev. 2, 1037-1046], we isolated five candidate genes predicted to encode GSTs (glutathione S-transferases) from the presumed sepia locus (region 66D5 on chromosome 3L). All cloned and expressed candidates exhibited relatively high thiol transferase and dehydroascorbate reductase activities and low activity towards 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene, characteristic of Omega class GSTs, whereas only CG6781 catalysed the synthesis of PDA in vitro. The molecular mass of recombinant CG6781 was estimated to be 28 kDa by SDS/PAGE and 56 kDa by gel filtration, indicating that it is a homodimer under native conditions. Sequencing of the genomic region spanning CG6781 revealed that the se1 allele has a frameshift mutation from 'AAGAA' to 'GTG' at nt 190-194, and that this generates a premature stop codon. Expression of the CG6781 open reading frame in an se1 background rescued the eye colour defect as well as PDA synthase activity and drosopterins content. The extent of rescue was dependent on the dosage of transgenic CG6781. In conclusion, we have discovered a new catalytic activity for an Omega class GST and that CG6781 is the structural gene for sepia which encodes PDA synthase.

/pdf/identification-and-characteristics-of-the-structural-gene-6ekoqfv48m.pdf

Identification and characteristics of the structural gene for the Drosophila eye colour mutant sepia, encoding PDA synthase, a member of the Omega class glutathione S-transferases

Antiangiogenic Effect of Rosiglitazone Is Mediated via Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor γ-activated Maxi-K Channel Opening in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells

Kiyoung Kim

Papers

MRBench: A Benchmark for MapReduce Framework

Apoptotic Action of Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor-γ Activation in Human Non–Small-Cell Lung Cancer Is Mediated via Proline Oxidase-Induced Reactive Oxygen Species Formation

Glutathione S-Transferase Omega 1 Activity Is Sufficient to Suppress Neurodegeneration in a Drosophila Model of Parkinson Disease

Identification and characteristics of the structural gene for the Drosophila eye colour mutant sepia, encoding PDA synthase, a member of the Omega class glutathione S-transferases

Antiangiogenic Effect of Rosiglitazone Is Mediated via Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor γ-activated Maxi-K Channel Opening in Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells