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Issue 117 April/May 2011 CONTENTS


Laboratory and Statistical Science News and products


Counting on war and peace


Statistical software is infl uencing the study of war and peace. Felix Grant reports


Cover feature: Information integration and beyond


Beth Sharp explores how informatics solutions are meeting the needs of pharmaceutical companies


High-Performance Computing News and products


Big data, big dreams


How do we deal with the vast amounts of data modern science produces? Paul Schreier fi nds out


HPCAC workshop: High info bandwidth, low cost


Paul Schreier fi lls us in on the HPC Advisory Council’s Switzerland workshop 2011 Working towards higher performance


Beth Sharp discovers why HPC integrators should be chosen with care


Modelling and Engineering News and products


Power from thin air


As advancements are made in tapping the free energy that surrounds us, Paul Schreier investigates the options


A climate of change within modelling


Three scientists explain how climate modelling is being driven by scientifi c computing


Resources Diary dates


Suppliers’ directory Inside view


44 45 46


40


33 36


28 29


21 25


14


4 8


Changing times


During an interview for the feature on climate modelling (page 40) the US-based University of Illinois’ Donald Wuebbles remarked that, when he became an atmospheric scientist in the 1970s, the supercomputers he and his colleagues used were akin to the calculators of today. Looking back, it is sometimes hard to believe that modern mobile phones offer more in terms of functionality and fl exibility than the machines that drove our science. This leap in capabilities has meant that


we are generating more data than ever before – which, of course, has presented its own issue: data management. Paul Schreier investigates the issue of data intensive computing and how to effectively manage ‘big data’ (page 25) before turning his attention to energy harvesting (page 36). On a fi nal and more personal note,


all of us here would like to express our sympathies to those affected by the disaster in Japan. The long-term impact this will have on the nation, and more specifi cally within the fi eld of scientifi c computing, remains to be seen.


Beth Sharp EDITORIAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE TEAM


Editor Beth Sharp editor.scw@europascience.com


Specialist Reporters Felix Grant, Paul Schreier Circulation/readership enquiries Viv Ruskin viv@europascience.com


ADVERTISING TEAM


Advertising Sales Darren Ebbs Tel: +44 (0)1223 211 180 Fax: +44 (0)1223 211 107 darren.ebbs@europascience.com


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www.scientific-computing.com


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CORPORATE TEAM


Chairman and Publisher Dr Tom Wilkie Publishing Director Warren Clark Web www.scientifi c-computing.com


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Cover image Montage by Dan Taylor


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