Effect of garbage collection in iterative algorithms on Spark: an experimental analysis

The Journal of Supercomputing - Spark is one of the most widely used systems for the distributed processing of big data. Its performance bottlenecks are mainly due to the network I/O, disk I/O, and...     

聚乙二醇-三聚氰胺甲醛和聚乙烯醇半互穿网络的构建及表征

为提高三聚氰胺甲醛(MF)树脂制品的柔韧性,以聚乙二醇接枝三聚氰胺(M-PEG)替代部分三聚氰胺,并与甲醛、聚乙烯醇(PVA)在碱性条件下合成了聚乙二醇-三聚氰胺甲醛(PEG-MF)与PVA的半互穿聚合物网络体系(SemiIPN)。采用红外光谱、拉曼光谱、热重分析、差示扫描量热法等手段对Semi-IPN的微观结构进行了剖析,并分析了PEG、PVA等柔性链段对Semi-IPN黏度、游离甲醛含量、柔韧性等性能的影响。结果表明,PVA作为线型结构贯穿于聚乙二醇-三聚氰胺甲醛树脂交联网络体系结构中,形成了半互穿网络结构;所形成的Semi-IPN的热分解温度比MF树脂降低了60℃左右;Semi-IPN的韧性比纯MF树脂提高了800%,最高可达到19.700kJ/m2。     

Digital Microfluidics for Manipulation and Analysis of a Single Cell

The basic structural and functional unit of a living organism is a single cell. To understand the variability and to improve the biomedical requirement of a single cell, its analysis has become a key technique in biological and biomedical research. With a physical boundary of microchannels and microstructures, single cells are efficiently captured and analyzed, whereas electric forces sort and position single cells. Various microfluidic techniques have been exploited to manipulate single cells through hydrodynamic and electric forces. Digital microfluidics (DMF), the manipulation of individual droplets holding minute reagents and cells of interest by electric forces, has received more attention recently. Because of ease of fabrication, compactness and prospective automation, DMF has become a powerful approach for biological application. We review recent developments of various microfluidic chips for analysis of a single cell and for efficient genetic screening. In addition, perspectives to develop analysis of single cells based on DMF and emerging functionality with high throughput are discussed.     

Characterization of a Tryptophan 6-Halogenase from Streptomyces albus and Its Regioselectivity Determinants

Tryptophan halogenases are found in diverse organisms and catalyze regiospecific halogenation. They play an important role in the biosynthesis of halogenated indole alkaloids, which are biologically active and of therapeutic importance. Here, a tryptophan 6-halogenase (SatH) from Streptomyces albus was characterized by using a whole-cell reaction system in Escherichia coli. SatH showed substrate specificity for chloride and bromide ions, leading to regiospecific halogenation at the C6-position of l -tryptophan. In addition, SatH exhibited higher performance in bromination than that of previously reported tryptophan halogenases in the whole-cell reaction system. Through structure-based protein mutagenesis, it has been revealed that two consecutive residues, A78/V79 in SatH and G77/I78 in PyrH, are key determinants in the regioselectivity difference between tryptophan 6- and 5-halogenases. Substituting the AV with GI residues switched the regioselectivity of SatH by moving the orientation of tryptophan. These data contribute to an understanding of the key residues that determine the regioselectivity of tryptophan halogenases.