This paper describes an investigation of the performance characteristics of high performance data analytics (HPDA) workloads on the Cray XC40TM, with a focus on commonly-used open source analytics frameworks like Apache Spark. We look at two types of Spark workloads: the Spark benchmarks from the Intel HiBench 4.0 suite and a CX matrix decomposition algorithm. We study performance from both the...

In this study, MIE values measured with two different explosion tubes, HARTMANN and MIKE 3, are compared. Generally, MIKE 3 apparatus provides MIE results, which are equal or lower to those measured with the HARTMANN apparatus; this is particularly true for the energy ranges between 1 and 10mJ and higher than 100mJ. Differences observed can modify samples classification according to their sensi...

This paper analyzes the scalability potential of embarrassingly parallel genomics applications using the Apache Spark big data framework and compares their performance with native implementations as well as with Apache Hadoop scalability. The paper uses the BWA DNA mapping algorithm as an example due to its good scalability characteristics and due to the large data files it uses as input. Resul...

On February 24-26, 2014, the Coordinating Research Council (CRC) hosted a workshop at Hyatt Regency Baltimore, which focused on advanced fuel and engine efficiency. The workshop was co-sponsored by American Petroleum Institute (API) and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The main goal of the workshop was to understand the state of the art and identify gaps in current research efforts towards unde...

Sheer increase in volume of data over the last decade has triggered research in cluster computing frameworks that enable web enterprises to extract big insights from big data. While Apache Spark is gaining popularity for exhibiting superior scale-out performance on the commodity machines, the impact of data volume on the performance of Spark based data analytics in scale-up configuration is not...

In this article, we report a new route to synthesize diamond by converting "solid" carbon nanofibers with a Spark Plasma Sintering system under low temperature and pressure (even at atmospheric pressure). Well-crystallized diamond crystals are obtained at the tips of the carbon nanofibers after sintering at 1500 °C and atmospheric pressure. Combining with scanning electron microscopy, transmiss...

The laser propagation and energy absorption of an argon spark induced by a laser at different pressures is investigated. 8 ns pulses from a frequency-doubled Q-switched Nd:YAG laser are used to create the spark. The pressure of the argon is varied from 1 atm to 10 Torr. Significant energy absorption by the plasma is observed at high pressures (.100 Torr) while there is negligible absorption whe...

Debugging data processing logic in Data-Intensive Scalable Computing (DISC) systems is a difficult and time consuming effort. Today's DISC systems offer very little tooling for debugging programs, and as a result programmers spend countless hours collecting evidence (e.g., from log files) and performing trial and error debugging. To aid this effort, we built Titian, a library that enables data ...

Next Generation Sequencing has resulted in the generation of large number of omics data at a faster speed that was not possible before. This data is only useful if it can be stored and analyzed at the same speed. Big Data platforms and tools like Apache Hadoop and Spark has solved this problem. However, most of the algorithms used in bioinformatics for Pairwise alignment, Multiple Alignment and...

To trigger action potentials in neurons, most investigators use electrical or chemical stimulation. Here we describe an optical stimulation method based on semi-synthetic light-activated ion channels. These SPARK (synthetic photoisomerizable azobenzene-regulated K(+)) channels consist of a synthetic azobenzene-containing photoswitch and a genetically modified Shaker K(+) channel protein. SPARK ...