•The relationship among server inlet temperature, utilization, and heat generation is analyzed.•Variable airflow server model is proposed for data center cooling energy simulation.•Annual cooling ...energy simulation is conducted in a modular data center with air-side economizer.•Server airflow variation shows significant impact on data center cooling energy prediction.
This paper proposes a server model that can be applied to simulating the annual cooling energy consumption of data centers and an analysis of its impact. Recently, aisle containment architecture and the variable air volume system have been widely adopted in the data center industry because of their superior indoor thermal management and cooling energy savings. However, the current simulation method, which fixes the server heat generation and the supply and return air temperature difference of the computer room air handler (CRAH), does not correctly reflect current cooling systems. In this study, a server model was developed that accounts for server thermal characteristics – including server power, fan airflow, and exhaust temperature – according to the given CPU utilization and temperature. After the proposed server model was validated, the annual cooling energy consumption was simulated for modular data centers with an air-side economizer and high ambient temperature. Unlike the conventional method, the proposed model showed that the cooling energy consumption increased when the CRAH supply air temperature was higher than 19°C because of the increase in fan energy consumption.
Protein-protein and protein-DNA/RNA interactions play a fundamental role in a variety of biological processes. Determining the complex structures of these interactions is valuable, in which molecular ...docking has played an important role. To automatically make use of the binding information from the PDB in docking, here we have presented HDOCK, a novel web server of our hybrid docking algorithm of template-based modeling and free docking, in which cases with misleading templates can be rescued by the free docking protocol. The server supports protein-protein and protein-DNA/RNA docking and accepts both sequence and structure inputs for proteins. The docking process is fast and consumes about 10-20 min for a docking run. Tested on the cases with weakly homologous complexes of <30% sequence identity from five docking benchmarks, the HDOCK pipeline tied with template-based modeling on the protein-protein and protein-DNA benchmarks and performed better than template-based modeling on the three protein-RNA benchmarks when the top 10 predictions were considered. The performance of HDOCK became better when more predictions were considered. Combining the results of HDOCK and template-based modeling by ranking first of the template-based model further improved the predictive power of the server. The HDOCK web server is available at http://hdock.phys.hust.edu.cn/.
The COFACTOR web server is a unified platform for structure-based multiple-level protein function predictions. By structurally threading low-resolution structural models through the BioLiP library, ...the COFACTOR server infers three categories of protein functions including gene ontology, enzyme commission and ligand-binding sites from various analogous and homologous function templates. Here, we report recent improvements of the COFACTOR server in the development of new pipelines to infer functional insights from sequence profile alignments and protein-protein interaction networks. Large-scale benchmark tests show that the new hybrid COFACTOR approach significantly improves the function annotation accuracy of the former structure-based pipeline and other state-of-the-art functional annotation methods, particularly for targets that have no close homology templates. The updated COFACTOR server and the template libraries are available at http://zhanglab.ccmb.med.umich.edu/COFACTOR/.
The IntaRNA algorithm enables fast and accurate prediction of RNA-RNA hybrids by incorporating seed constraints and interaction site accessibility. Here, we introduce IntaRNAv2, which enables ...enhanced parameterization as well as fully customizable control over the prediction modes and output formats. Based on up to date benchmark data, the enhanced predictive quality is shown and further improvements due to more restrictive seed constraints are highlighted. The extended web interface provides visualizations of the new minimal energy profiles for RNA-RNA interactions. These allow a detailed investigation of interaction alternatives and can reveal potential interaction site multiplicity. IntaRNAv2 is freely available (source and binary), and distributed via the conda package manager. Furthermore, it has been included into the Galaxy workflow framework and its already established web interface enables ad hoc usage.
Abstract
Here we present an update to MutationTaster, our DNA variant effect prediction tool. The new version uses a different prediction model and attains higher accuracy than its predecessor, ...especially for rare benign variants. In addition, we have integrated many sources of data that only became available after the last release (such as gnomAD and ExAC pLI scores) and changed the splice site prediction model. To more easily assess the relevance of detected known disease mutations to the clinical phenotype of the patient, MutationTaster now provides information on the diseases they cause. Further changes represent a major overhaul of the interfaces to increase user-friendliness whilst many changes under the hood have been designed to accelerate the processing of uploaded VCF files. We also offer an API for the rapid automated query of smaller numbers of variants from within other software. MutationTaster2021 integrates our disease mutation search engine, MutationDistiller, to prioritise variants from VCF files using the patient's clinical phenotype. The novel version is available at https://www.genecascade.org/MutationTaster2021/. This website is free and open to all users and there is no login requirement.
Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract
Identification of disease-causing variants with MutationTaster2021.
Recognizing the widespread existence of intrinsically disordered regions in proteins spurred the development of computational techniques for their detection. All existing techniques can be classified ...into methods relying on single-sequence information and those relying on evolutionary sequence profiles generated from multiple-sequence alignments. The methods based on sequence profiles are, in general, more accurate because the presence or absence of conserved amino acid residues in a protein sequence provides important information on the structural and functional roles of the residues. However, the wide applicability of profile-based techniques is limited by time-consuming calculation of sequence profiles. Here we demonstrate that the performance gap between profile-based techniques and single-sequence methods can be reduced by using an ensemble of deep recurrent and convolutional neural networks that allow whole-sequence learning. In particular, the single-sequence method (called SPOT-Disorder-Single) is more accurate than SPOT-Disorder (a profile-based method) for proteins with few homologous sequences and comparable for proteins in predicting long-disordered regions. The method performance is robust across four independent test sets with different amounts of short- and long-disordered regions. SPOT-Disorder-Single is available as a Web server and as a standalone program at http://sparks-lab.org/jack/server/SPOT-Disorder-Single.
Galaxy (https://galaxyproject.org) is deployed globally, predominantly through free-to-use services, supporting user-driven research that broadens in scope each year. Users are attracted to public ...Galaxy services by platform stability, tool and reference dataset diversity, training, support and integration, which enables complex, reproducible, shareable data analysis. Applying the principles of user experience design (UXD), has driven improvements in accessibility, tool discoverability through Galaxy Labs/subdomains, and a redesigned Galaxy ToolShed. Galaxy tool capabilities are progressing in two strategic directions: integrating general purpose graphical processing units (GPGPU) access for cutting-edge methods, and licensed tool support. Engagement with global research consortia is being increased by developing more workflows in Galaxy and by resourcing the public Galaxy services to run them. The Galaxy Training Network (GTN) portfolio has grown in both size, and accessibility, through learning paths and direct integration with Galaxy tools that feature in training courses. Code development continues in line with the Galaxy Project roadmap, with improvements to job scheduling and the user interface. Environmental impact assessment is also helping engage users and developers, reminding them of their role in sustainability, by displaying estimated CO2 emissions generated by each Galaxy job.
Abstract
The EMBL-EBI search and sequence analysis tools frameworks provide integrated access to EMBL-EBI’s data resources and core bioinformatics analytical tools. EBI Search ...(https://www.ebi.ac.uk/ebisearch) provides a full-text search engine across nearly 5 billion entries, while the Job Dispatcher tools framework (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/services) enables the scientific community to perform a diverse range of sequence analysis using popular bioinformatics applications. Both allow users to interact through user-friendly web applications, as well as via RESTful and SOAP-based APIs. Here, we describe recent improvements to these services and updates made to accommodate the increasing data requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Graphical Abstract
Graphical Abstract
Overview of the tools and data resources provided by EBI Search and Job Dispatcher services accessible via their webpage and programmatic interfaces.
Pathway analysis is widely used in omics studies. Pathway-based data integration and visualization is a critical component of the analysis. To address this need, we recently developed a novel R ...package called Pathview. Pathview maps, integrates and renders a large variety of biological data onto molecular pathway graphs. Here we developed the Pathview Web server, as to make pathway visualization and data integration accessible to all scientists, including those without the special computing skills or resources. Pathview Web features an intuitive graphical web interface and a user centered design. The server not only expands the core functions of Pathview, but also provides many useful features not available in the offline R package. Importantly, the server presents a comprehensive workflow for both regular and integrated pathway analysis of multiple omics data. In addition, the server also provides a RESTful API for programmatic access and conveniently integration in third-party software or workflows. Pathview Web is openly and freely accessible at https://pathview.uncc.edu/.
IslandViewer (http://www.pathogenomics.sfu.ca/islandviewer/) is a widely-used webserver for the prediction and interactive visualization of genomic islands (GIs, regions of probable horizontal ...origin) in bacterial and archaeal genomes. GIs disproportionately encode factors that enhance the adaptability and competitiveness of the microbe within a niche, including virulence factors and other medically or environmentally important adaptations. We report here the release of IslandViewer 4, with novel features to accommodate the needs of larger-scale microbial genomics analysis, while expanding GI predictions and improving its flexible visualization interface. A user management web interface as well as an HTTP API for batch analyses are now provided with a secured authentication to facilitate the submission of larger numbers of genomes and the retrieval of results. In addition, IslandViewer's integrated GI predictions from multiple methods have been improved and expanded by integrating the precise Islander method for pre-computed genomes, as well as an updated IslandPath-DIMOB for both pre-computed and user-supplied custom genome analysis. Finally, pre-computed predictions including virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance are now available for 6193 complete bacterial and archaeal strains publicly available in RefSeq. IslandViewer 4 provides key enhancements to facilitate the analysis of GIs and better understand their role in the evolution of successful environmental microbes and pathogens.