diff --git a/project/SharkBuild.scala b/project/SharkBuild.scala
index 123d4604..e8b259c2 100755
--- a/project/SharkBuild.scala
+++ b/project/SharkBuild.scala
@@ -203,6 +203,12 @@ object SharkBuild extends Build {
       // See https://code.google.com/p/guava-libraries/issues/detail?id=1095
       "com.google.code.findbugs" % "jsr305" % "1.3.+",
 
+      // sbt fails down download the javax.servlet artifacts from jetty 8.1:
+      // http://mvnrepository.com/artifact/org.eclipse.jetty.orbit/javax.servlet/3.0.0.v201112011016
+      // which may be due to the  use of the orbit extension.  So, we manually include servlet api
+      // from a separate source.
+      "org.mortbay.jetty" % "servlet-api" % "3.0.20100224",
+
       // Hive unit test requirements. These are used by Hadoop to run the tests, but not necessary
       // in usual Shark runs.
       "commons-io" % "commons-io" % "2.1",
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/SharkCliDriver.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/SharkCliDriver.scala
index b2cc2e4f..204364be 100755
--- a/src/main/scala/shark/SharkCliDriver.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/SharkCliDriver.scala
@@ -162,7 +162,9 @@ object SharkCliDriver {
     val cli = new SharkCliDriver(reloadRdds)
     cli.setHiveVariables(oproc.getHiveVariables())
 
-    SharkEnv.fixUncompatibleConf(conf)
+    if (!ss.isRemoteMode) {
+      SharkEnv.fixUncompatibleConf(conf)
+    }
 
     // Execute -i init files (always in silent mode)
     cli.processInitFiles(ss)
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/LateralViewJoinOperator.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/LateralViewJoinOperator.scala
index c30005d4..ca908fdb 100755
--- a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/LateralViewJoinOperator.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/LateralViewJoinOperator.scala
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ import java.nio.ByteBuffer
 
 import scala.collection.mutable.ArrayBuffer
 import scala.collection.JavaConversions._
-import scala.reflect.BeanProperty
+import scala.reflect.{BeanProperty, ClassTag}
 
 import org.apache.commons.codec.binary.Base64
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.exec.{ExprNodeEvaluator, ExprNodeEvaluatorFactory}
@@ -174,12 +174,12 @@ object KryoSerializerToString {
 
   @transient val kryoSer = new SparkKryoSerializer(SparkEnv.get.conf)
 
-  def serialize[T](o: T): String = {
+  def serialize[T: ClassTag](o: T): String = {
     val bytes = kryoSer.newInstance().serialize(o).array()
     new String(Base64.encodeBase64(bytes))
   }
 
-  def deserialize[T](byteString: String): T  = {
+  def deserialize[T: ClassTag](byteString: String): T  = {
     val bytes = Base64.decodeBase64(byteString.getBytes())
     kryoSer.newInstance().deserialize[T](ByteBuffer.wrap(bytes))
   }
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/MapSplitPruning.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/MapSplitPruning.scala
index 976ebf50..874165b1 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/MapSplitPruning.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/MapSplitPruning.scala
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ object MapSplitPruning {
                 true
               }
 
-            case _: GenericUDFIn =>
+            case _: GenericUDFIn if e.children(0).isInstanceOf[ExprNodeColumnEvaluator] =>
               testInPredicate(
                 s,
                 e.children(0).asInstanceOf[ExprNodeColumnEvaluator],
@@ -91,10 +91,13 @@ object MapSplitPruning {
     val columnStats = s.stats(field.fieldID)
 
     if (columnStats != null) {
-      expEvals.exists {
-        e =>
+      expEvals.exists { e =>
+        if (e.isInstanceOf[ExprNodeConstantEvaluator]) {
           val constEval = e.asInstanceOf[ExprNodeConstantEvaluator]
           columnStats := constEval.expr.getValue()
+        } else {
+          true
+        }
       }
     } else {
       // If there is no stats on the column, don't prune.
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/JavaSerializer.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/JavaSerializer.scala
index df6ab31d..17537f2b 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/JavaSerializer.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/JavaSerializer.scala
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ package shark.execution.serialization
 
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer
 
+import scala.reflect.ClassTag
+
 import org.apache.spark.SparkEnv
 import org.apache.spark.serializer.{JavaSerializer => SparkJavaSerializer}
 
@@ -26,11 +28,11 @@ import org.apache.spark.serializer.{JavaSerializer => SparkJavaSerializer}
 object JavaSerializer {
   @transient val ser = new SparkJavaSerializer(SparkEnv.get.conf)
 
-  def serialize[T](o: T): Array[Byte] = {
+  def serialize[T: ClassTag](o: T): Array[Byte] = {
     ser.newInstance().serialize(o).array()
   }
 
-  def deserialize[T](bytes: Array[Byte]): T  = {
+  def deserialize[T: ClassTag](bytes: Array[Byte]): T  = {
     ser.newInstance().deserialize[T](ByteBuffer.wrap(bytes))
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/KryoSerializationWrapper.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/KryoSerializationWrapper.scala
index 9f227295..57c3f1da 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/KryoSerializationWrapper.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/KryoSerializationWrapper.scala
@@ -17,13 +17,15 @@
 
 package shark.execution.serialization
 
+import scala.reflect.ClassTag
+
 /**
  * A wrapper around some unserializable objects that make them both Java
  * serializable. Internally, Kryo is used for serialization.
  *
  * Use KryoSerializationWrapper(value) to create a wrapper.
  */
-class KryoSerializationWrapper[T] extends Serializable {
+class KryoSerializationWrapper[T: ClassTag] extends Serializable {
 
   @transient var value: T = _
 
@@ -54,7 +56,7 @@ class KryoSerializationWrapper[T] extends Serializable {
 
 
 object KryoSerializationWrapper {
-  def apply[T](value: T): KryoSerializationWrapper[T] = {
+  def apply[T: ClassTag](value: T): KryoSerializationWrapper[T] = {
     val wrapper = new KryoSerializationWrapper[T]
     wrapper.value = value
     wrapper
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/KryoSerializer.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/KryoSerializer.scala
index 0532fbcc..e733367f 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/KryoSerializer.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/KryoSerializer.scala
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ package shark.execution.serialization
 
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer
 
+import scala.reflect.ClassTag
+
 import org.apache.spark.{SparkConf, SparkEnv}
 import org.apache.spark.serializer.{KryoSerializer => SparkKryoSerializer}
 
@@ -36,11 +38,11 @@ object KryoSerializer {
     new SparkKryoSerializer(sparkConf)
   }
 
-  def serialize[T](o: T): Array[Byte] = {
+  def serialize[T: ClassTag](o: T): Array[Byte] = {
     ser.newInstance().serialize(o).array()
   }
 
-  def deserialize[T](bytes: Array[Byte]): T  = {
+  def deserialize[T: ClassTag](bytes: Array[Byte]): T  = {
     ser.newInstance().deserialize[T](ByteBuffer.wrap(bytes))
   }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/ShuffleSerializer.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/ShuffleSerializer.scala
index d6179ecd..2aa94d93 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/ShuffleSerializer.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/execution/serialization/ShuffleSerializer.scala
@@ -20,6 +20,8 @@ package shark.execution.serialization
 import java.io.{InputStream, OutputStream}
 import java.nio.ByteBuffer
 
+import scala.reflect.ClassTag
+
 import org.apache.hadoop.io.BytesWritable
 
 import org.apache.spark.SparkConf
@@ -60,11 +62,11 @@ class ShuffleSerializer(conf: SparkConf) extends Serializer with Serializable {
 
 class ShuffleSerializerInstance extends SerializerInstance with Serializable {
 
-  override def serialize[T](t: T): ByteBuffer = throw new UnsupportedOperationException
+  override def serialize[T: ClassTag](t: T): ByteBuffer = throw new UnsupportedOperationException
 
-  override def deserialize[T](bytes: ByteBuffer): T = throw new UnsupportedOperationException
+  override def deserialize[T: ClassTag](bytes: ByteBuffer): T = throw new UnsupportedOperationException
 
-  override def deserialize[T](bytes: ByteBuffer, loader: ClassLoader): T =
+  override def deserialize[T: ClassTag](bytes: ByteBuffer, loader: ClassLoader): T =
     throw new UnsupportedOperationException
 
   override def serializeStream(s: OutputStream): SerializationStream = {
@@ -79,7 +81,7 @@ class ShuffleSerializerInstance extends SerializerInstance with Serializable {
 
 class ShuffleSerializationStream(stream: OutputStream) extends SerializationStream with Serializable {
 
-  override def writeObject[T](t: T): SerializationStream = {
+  override def writeObject[T: ClassTag](t: T): SerializationStream = {
     // On the write-side, the ReduceKey should be of type ReduceKeyMapSide.
     val (key, value) = t.asInstanceOf[(ReduceKey, BytesWritable)]
     writeUnsignedVarInt(key.length)
@@ -110,7 +112,7 @@ class ShuffleSerializationStream(stream: OutputStream) extends SerializationStre
 
 class ShuffleDeserializationStream(stream: InputStream) extends DeserializationStream with Serializable {
 
-  override def readObject[T](): T = {
+  override def readObject[T: ClassTag](): T = {
     // Return type is (ReduceKeyReduceSide, Array[Byte])
     val keyLen = readUnsignedVarInt()
     if (keyLen < 0) {
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/memstore2/TableRecovery.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/memstore2/TableRecovery.scala
index adf61061..6e92152b 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/shark/memstore2/TableRecovery.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/memstore2/TableRecovery.scala
@@ -58,6 +58,7 @@ object TableRecovery extends LogHelper {
           logInfo(logMessage)
         }
         val cmd = QueryRewriteUtils.cacheToAlterTable("CACHE %s".format(tableName))
+        cmdRunner(s"use $databaseName")
         cmdRunner(cmd)
       }
     }
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/memstore2/column/CompressedColumnIterator.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/memstore2/column/CompressedColumnIterator.scala
index 28856826..be79c993 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/shark/memstore2/column/CompressedColumnIterator.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/memstore2/column/CompressedColumnIterator.scala
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ class RLDecoder[V](buffer: ByteBuffer, columnType: ColumnType[_, V]) extends Ite
   private var _count: Int = 0
   private val _current: V = columnType.newWritable()
 
-  override def hasNext = buffer.hasRemaining()
+  override def hasNext = _count < _run || buffer.hasRemaining()
 
   override def next(): V = {
     if (_count == _run) {
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/optimizer/SharkMapJoinProcessor.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/optimizer/SharkMapJoinProcessor.scala
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..72aab228
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/optimizer/SharkMapJoinProcessor.scala
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright (C) 2012 The Regents of The University California.
+ * All rights reserved.
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package shark.optimizer
+
+import java.util.{LinkedHashMap => JavaLinkedHashMap}
+
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.exec.{MapJoinOperator, JoinOperator, Operator}
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.optimizer.MapJoinProcessor
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.parse.{ParseContext, QBJoinTree, OpParseContext}
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.plan.OperatorDesc
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.conf.HiveConf
+
+class SharkMapJoinProcessor extends MapJoinProcessor {
+
+  /**
+   * Override generateMapJoinOperator to bypass the step of validating Map Join hints int Hive.
+   */
+  override def generateMapJoinOperator(
+      pctx: ParseContext,
+      op: JoinOperator,
+      joinTree: QBJoinTree,
+      mapJoinPos: Int): MapJoinOperator = {
+    val hiveConf: HiveConf = pctx.getConf
+    val noCheckOuterJoin: Boolean =
+      HiveConf.getBoolVar(hiveConf, HiveConf.ConfVars.HIVEOPTSORTMERGEBUCKETMAPJOIN) &&
+      HiveConf.getBoolVar(hiveConf, HiveConf.ConfVars.HIVEOPTBUCKETMAPJOIN)
+
+    val opParseCtxMap: JavaLinkedHashMap[Operator[_ <: OperatorDesc], OpParseContext] =
+      pctx.getOpParseCtx
+
+    // Explicitly set validateMapJoinTree to false to bypass the step of validating
+    // Map Join hints in Hive.
+    val validateMapJoinTree = false
+    val mapJoinOp: MapJoinOperator =
+      MapJoinProcessor.convertMapJoin(
+        opParseCtxMap, op, joinTree, mapJoinPos, noCheckOuterJoin, validateMapJoinTree)
+
+    // Hive originally uses genSelectPlan to insert an dummy select after the MapJoinOperator.
+    // We should not need this step.
+    // create a dummy select to select all columns
+    // MapJoinProcessor.genSelectPlan(pctx, mapJoinOp)
+
+    return mapJoinOp
+  }
+}
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/SharkOptimizer.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/optimizer/SharkOptimizer.scala
similarity index 75%
rename from src/main/scala/shark/SharkOptimizer.scala
rename to src/main/scala/shark/optimizer/SharkOptimizer.scala
index e36184fd..08f649d1 100644
--- a/src/main/scala/shark/SharkOptimizer.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/optimizer/SharkOptimizer.scala
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright (C) 2012 The Regents of The University California. 
+ * Copyright (C) 2012 The Regents of The University California.
  * All rights reserved.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
@@ -15,14 +15,15 @@
  * limitations under the License.
  */
 
-package shark
+package shark.optimizer
 
 import java.util.{List => JavaList}
 
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.optimizer.JoinReorder
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.optimizer.{Optimizer => HiveOptimizer, 
-  SimpleFetchOptimizer, Transform}
-import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.parse.{ParseContext}
+  SimpleFetchOptimizer, Transform, MapJoinProcessor => HiveMapJoinProcessor}
+import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.parse.ParseContext
+import shark.LogHelper
 
 class SharkOptimizer extends HiveOptimizer with LogHelper {
 
@@ -49,6 +50,13 @@ class SharkOptimizer extends HiveOptimizer with LogHelper {
       transformation match {
         case _: SimpleFetchOptimizer => {}
         case _: JoinReorder => {}
+        case _: HiveMapJoinProcessor => {
+          // Use SharkMapJoinProcessor to bypass the step of validating Map Join hints
+          // in Hive. So, we can use hints to mark tables that will be considered as small
+          // tables (like Hive 0.9).
+          val sharkMapJoinProcessor = new SharkMapJoinProcessor
+          pctx = sharkMapJoinProcessor.transform(pctx)
+        }
         case _ => {
           pctx = transformation.transform(pctx)
         }
diff --git a/src/main/scala/shark/parse/SharkSemanticAnalyzer.scala b/src/main/scala/shark/parse/SharkSemanticAnalyzer.scala
index 7f3a3fd2..677da200 100755
--- a/src/main/scala/shark/parse/SharkSemanticAnalyzer.scala
+++ b/src/main/scala/shark/parse/SharkSemanticAnalyzer.scala
@@ -38,11 +38,12 @@ import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.parse._
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.plan._
 import org.apache.hadoop.hive.ql.session.SessionState
 
-import shark.{LogHelper, SharkConfVars, SharkOptimizer}
+import shark.{LogHelper, SharkConfVars}
 import shark.execution.{HiveDesc, Operator, OperatorFactory, ReduceSinkOperator}
 import shark.execution.{SharkDDLWork, SparkLoadWork, SparkWork, TerminalOperator}
 import shark.memstore2.{CacheType, LazySimpleSerDeWrapper, MemoryMetadataManager}
 import shark.memstore2.SharkTblProperties
+import shark.optimizer.SharkOptimizer
 
 
 /**
diff --git a/src/test/scala/shark/SQLSuite.scala b/src/test/scala/shark/SQLSuite.scala
index 3855ca21..94bebe17 100644
--- a/src/test/scala/shark/SQLSuite.scala
+++ b/src/test/scala/shark/SQLSuite.scala
@@ -718,6 +718,11 @@ class SQLSuite extends FunSuite {
       where year(from_unixtime(k)) between "2013" and "2014" """, Array[String]("0"))
   }
 
+  test("map pruning with functions in in clause") {
+    expectSql("""select count(*) from mapsplitfunc_cached
+      where year(from_unixtime(k)) in ("2013", concat("201", "4")) """, Array[String]("0"))
+  }
+
   //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
   // SharkContext APIs (e.g. sql2rdd, sql)
   //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
diff --git a/src/test/scala/shark/memstore2/column/CompressedColumnIteratorSuite.scala b/src/test/scala/shark/memstore2/column/CompressedColumnIteratorSuite.scala
index 7f209d23..bcf1cf08 100644
--- a/src/test/scala/shark/memstore2/column/CompressedColumnIteratorSuite.scala
+++ b/src/test/scala/shark/memstore2/column/CompressedColumnIteratorSuite.scala
@@ -78,6 +78,7 @@ class CompressedColumnIteratorSuite extends FunSuite {
       }
 
       l.foreach { x =>
+        assert(iter.hasNext)
         iter.next()
         assert(t.get(iter.current, oi) === x)
       }