Improving Protein-Protein Interaction Prediction by Using Encoding Strategies and Random Indices

A New features are extracted and compared to improve the prediction of protein-protein interactions. The basic idea is to select and use the best set of features from the Tensor matrices that are produced by the frequency vectors of the protein sequences. Three set of features are compared, the first set is based on the indices that are the most common in the interacting proteins, the second set is based on the indices that tend to be common in the interacting and non-interacting proteins, and the third set is constructed by using random indices. Moreover, three encoding strategies are compared; that are based on the amino asides polarity, structure, and chemical properties. The experimental results indicate that the highest accuracy can be obtained by using random indices with chemical properties encoding strategy and support vector machine.

A Bayesian Kernel for the Prediction of Protein- Protein Interactions

Understanding proteins functions is a major goal in the post-genomic era. Proteins usually work in context of other proteins and rarely function alone. Therefore, it is highly relevant to study the interaction partners of a protein in order to understand its function. Machine learning techniques have been widely applied to predict protein-protein interactions. Kernel functions play an important role for a successful machine learning technique. Choosing the appropriate kernel function can lead to a better accuracy in a binary classifier such as the support vector machines. In this paper, we describe a Bayesian kernel for the support vector machine to predict protein-protein interactions. The use of Bayesian kernel can improve the classifier performance by incorporating the probability characteristic of the available experimental protein-protein interactions data that were compiled from different sources. In addition, the probabilistic output from the Bayesian kernel can assist biologists to conduct more research on the highly predicted interactions. The results show that the accuracy of the classifier has been improved using the Bayesian kernel compared to the standard SVM kernels. These results imply that protein-protein interaction can be predicted using Bayesian kernel with better accuracy compared to the standard SVM kernels.

Characteristics of Intronic and Intergenic Human miRNAs and Features of their Interaction with mRNA

Regulatory relationships of 686 intronic miRNA and 784 intergenic miRNAs with mRNAs of 51 intronic miRNA coding genes were established. Interaction features of studied miRNAs with 5'UTR, CDS and 3'UTR of mRNA of each gene were revealed. Functional regions of mRNA were shown to be significantly heterogenous according to the number of binding sites of miRNA and to the location density of these sites.

The Relationship between Employability and Training

The aim of this paper is to provide an empirical evidence about the effects that the management of continuous training have on employability (or employment stability) in the Spanish labour market. With this purpose a binary logit model with interaction effect is been used. The dependent variable includes two situations of the active workers: continuous and discontinuous employability. To distinguish between them an Employability Index Stability (ESI) was calculated taking into account two factors: time worked and job security. Various aspects of the continuous training and personal workers data are used as independent variables. The data obtained from a survey of a sample of 918 employed have revealed a relationship between the likelihood of continuous employability and continuous training received. The empirical results support the positive and significant relationship between various aspects of the training provided by firms and employability likelihood of the workers, postulate alike from a theoretical point of view.

Obstacles as Switches between Different Cardiac Arrhythmias

Ventricular fibrillation is a very important health problem as is the cause of most of the sudden deaths in the world. Waves of electrical activity are sent by the SA node, propagate through the cardiac tissue and activate the mechanisms of cell contraction, and therefore are responsible to pump blood to the body harmonically. A spiral wave is an abnormal auto sustainable wave that is responsible of certain types of arrhythmias. When these waves break up, give rise to the fibrillation regime, in which there is a complete loss in the coordination of the contraction of the heart muscle. Interaction of spiral waves and obstacles is also of great importance as it is believed that the attachment of a spiral wave to an obstacle can provide with a transition of two different arrhythmias. An obstacle can be partially excitable or non excitable. In this talk, we present a numerical study of the interaction of meandering spiral waves with partially and non excitable obstacles and focus on the problem where the obstacle plays a fundamental role in the switch between different spiral regimes, which represent different arrhythmic regimes. Particularly, we study the phenomenon of destabilization of spiral waves due to the presence of obstacles, a phenomenon not completely understood (This work will appear as a Chapter in a Book named Cardiac Arrhytmias by INTECH under the name "Spiral Waves, Obstacles and Cardiac Arrhythmias", ISBN 979-953-307-050-5.).

Technology Diffusion and Inclusive Development in Africa: A System Dynamics Perspective

Technology or lack of it will play an important role in Africa-s effort to achieve inclusive development. Although a key determinant of competitiveness, new technology can exacerbate exclusion of the majority from the mainstream economic activities. To minimise potential technology exclusion while leveraging its critical role in African-s development, requires insight into technology diffusion process. Using system dynamics approach, a technology diffusion model is presented. The frequency of interaction of people exposed to and those not exposed to technology, and the technology adoption rate - the fraction of people who embrace new technologies once they are exposed, are identified as the broad factors critical to technology diffusion to wider society enabling more people to be part of the economic growth process. Based on simulation results, it is recommends that these two broad factors should form part of national policy aimed at achieving inclusive and sustainable development in Africa.

Hydrodynamic Analysis of Reservoir Due to Vertical Component of Earthquake Using an Analytical Solution

This paper presents an analytical solution to get a reliable estimation of the hydrodynamic pressure on gravity dams induced by vertical component earthquake when solving the fluid and dam interaction problem. Presented analytical technique is presented for calculation of earthquake-induced hydrodynamic pressure in the reservoir of gravity dams allowing for water compressibility and wave absorption at the reservoir bottom. This new analytical solution can take into account the effect of bottom material on seismic response of gravity dams. It is concluded that because the vertical component of ground motion causes significant hydrodynamic forces in the horizontal direction on a vertical upstream face, responses to the vertical component of ground motion are of special importance in analysis of concrete gravity dams subjected to earthquakes.

An Agent-Based Approach to Immune Modelling: Priming Individual Response

This study focuses on examining why the range of experience with respect to HIV infection is so diverse, especially in regard to the latency period. An agent-based approach in modelling the infection is used to extract high-level behaviour which cannot be obtained analytically from the set of interaction rules at the cellular level. A prototype model encompasses local variation in baseline properties, contributing to the individual disease experience, and is included in a network which mimics the chain of lymph nodes. The model also accounts for stochastic events such as viral mutations. The size and complexity of the model require major computational effort and parallelisation methods are used.

Ontology Development of e-Learning Moodle for Social Learning Network Analysis

Social learning network analysis has drawn attention for most researcher on e-learning research domain. This is due to the fact that it has the capability to identify the behavior of student during their social interaction inside e-learning. Normally, the social network analysis (SNA) is treating the students' interaction merely as node and edge with less meaning. This paper focuses on providing an ontology structure of e-learning Moodle that can enrich the relationships among students, as well as between the students and the teacher. This ontology structure brings great benefit to the future development of e-learning system.

Introductory Design Optimisation of a Machine Tool using a Virtual Machine Concept

Designing modern machine tools is a complex task. A simulation tool to aid the design work, a virtual machine, has therefore been developed in earlier work. The virtual machine considers the interaction between the mechanics of the machine (including structural flexibility) and the control system. This paper exemplifies the usefulness of the virtual machine as a tool for product development. An optimisation study is conducted aiming at improving the existing design of a machine tool regarding weight and manufacturing accuracy at maintained manufacturing speed. The problem can be categorised as constrained multidisciplinary multiobjective multivariable optimisation. Parameters of the control and geometric quantities of the machine are used as design variables. This results in a mix of continuous and discrete variables and an optimisation approach using a genetic algorithm is therefore deployed. The accuracy objective is evaluated according to international standards. The complete systems model shows nondeterministic behaviour. A strategy to handle this based on statistical analysis is suggested. The weight of the main moving parts is reduced by more than 30 per cent and the manufacturing accuracy is improvement by more than 60 per cent compared to the original design, with no reduction in manufacturing speed. It is also shown that interaction effects exist between the mechanics and the control, i.e. this improvement would most likely not been possible with a conventional sequential design approach within the same time, cost and general resource frame. This indicates the potential of the virtual machine concept for contributing to improved efficiency of both complex products and the development process for such products. Companies incorporating such advanced simulation tools in their product development could thus improve its own competitiveness as well as contribute to improved resource efficiency of society at large.

Exploring the Roles of Social Exchanges in Using Information Systems

Previous studies have indicated that one of the most critical failure reasons of enterprise systems is the lack of knowledge sharing and utilization across organizations. As a consequence, many information systems researchers have paid attention to examining the effect of absorptive capacity closely associated with knowledge sharing and transferring on IS usage performance. A lack of communications and interactions due to a lack of organizational citizenship behavior might lead to weak absorptive capacity and thus negatively influence knowledge sharing across organizations. In this study, a theoretical model which delves into the relationship between usage performance of enterprise systems and its determinants was established.

University Industrial Linkages: Relationship Towards Economic Growth and Development in Malaysia

In the globalization context and competitiveness, the role of a university is further enhanced. University is no longer confined to traditional roles. Universities need to interact with others in order to be relevant and progressive. Symbiosis relationships between the university and industry are very significant because the relationship between those two can foster economic development of a nation. In a world of fast changing technology and competition, it is necessary for the university to collaborate with industry to combine efforts fostering the diffusion of knowledge, increasing research and development, patenting innovation and commercializing products. It has become increasingly accepted that the necessity of close university-industry interactions as a mean of national economic prosperity. Therefore, this paper is aim to examine the level of linkages in university-industry interactions to which promotes the regional economic growth and development. This paper will explore the formation of linkages between the Higher Education Institution (University Technology MARA) and industries located in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. It will present the university-industry linkages with emphasis on the type of linkages existed, the benefits of having such linkages to promote regional economic development and finally the constraints that might impede the linkages and potentials to enhance the linkages towards economic growth and development.

ANP-based Intra and Inter-industry Analysis for Measuring Spillover Effect of ICT Industries

The interaction among information and communication technology (ICT) industries is a recently ubiquitous phenomenon through fixed-mobile integration. To monitor the impact of interaction, previous research has mainly focused on measuring spillover effect among ICT industries using various methods. Among others, inter-industry analysis is one of the useful methods for examining spillover effect between industries. However, more complex ICT industries become, more important the impact within an industry is. Inter-industry analysis is limited in mirroring intra-relationships within an industry. Thus, this study applies the analytic network process (ANP) to measure the spillover effect, capturing all of the intra and inter-relationships. Using ANP-based intra and inter-industry analysis, the spillover effect is effectively measured, mirroring the complex structure of ICT industries. A main ICT industry and its linkages are also explored to show the current structure of ICT industries. The proposed approach is expected to allow policy makers to understand interactions of ICT industries and their impact.

Assessment of the Effect of Feed Plate Location on Interactions for a Binary Distillation Column

The paper considers the effect of feed plate location on the interactions in a seven plate binary distillation column. The mathematical model of the distillation column is deduced based on the equations of mass and energy balances for each stage, detailed model for both reboiler and condenser, and heat transfer equations. The Dynamic Relative Magnitude Criterion, DRMC is used to assess the interactions in different feed plate locations for a seven plate (Benzene-Toluene) binary distillation column ( the feed plate is originally at stage 4). The results show that whenever we go far from the optimum feed plate position, the level of interaction augments.

The Interaction between Accounting Students- Preference, Teaching Methodology and Performance

This paper examined the influence of matching students- learning preferences with the teaching methodology adopted, on their academic performance in an accounting course in two types of learning environment in one university in Lebanon: classes with PowerPoint (PPT) vs. conventional classes. Learning preferences were either for PPT or for Conventional methodology. A statistically significant increase in academic achievement is found in the conventionally instructed group as compared to the group taught with PPT. This low effectiveness of PPT might be attributed to the learning preferences of Lebanese students. In the PPT group, better academic performance was found among students with learning/teaching match as compared with students with learning/teaching mismatch. Since the majority of students display a preference for the conventional methodology, the result might suggest that Lebanese students- performance is not optimized by PPT in the accounting classrooms, not because of PPT itself, but because it is not matching the Lebanese students- learning preferences in such a quantitative course.

A Novel Machining Signal Filtering Technique: Z-notch Filter

A filter is used to remove undesirable frequency information from a dynamic signal. This paper shows that the Znotch filter filtering technique can be applied to remove the noise nuisance from a machining signal. In machining, the noise components were identified from the sound produced by the operation of machine components itself such as hydraulic system, motor, machine environment and etc. By correlating the noise components with the measured machining signal, the interested components of the measured machining signal which was less interfered by the noise, can be extracted. Thus, the filtered signal is more reliable to be analysed in terms of noise content compared to the unfiltered signal. Significantly, the I-kaz method i.e. comprises of three dimensional graphical representation and I-kaz coefficient, Z∞ could differentiate between the filtered and the unfiltered signal. The bigger space of scattering and the higher value of Z∞ demonstrated that the signal was highly interrupted by noise. This method can be utilised as a proactive tool in evaluating the noise content in a signal. The evaluation of noise content is very important as well as the elimination especially for machining operation fault diagnosis purpose. The Z-notch filtering technique was reliable in extracting noise component from the measured machining signal with high efficiency. Even though the measured signal was exposed to high noise disruption, the signal generated from the interaction between cutting tool and work piece still can be acquired. Therefore, the interruption of noise that could change the original signal feature and consequently can deteriorate the useful sensory information can be eliminated.

Customer Knowledge and Service Development, the Web 2.0 Role in Co-production

The paper is concerned with relationships between SSME and ICTs and focuses on the role of Web 2.0 tools in the service development process. The research presented aims at exploring how collaborative technologies can support and improve service processes, highlighting customer centrality and value coproduction. The core idea of the paper is the centrality of user participation and the collaborative technologies as enabling factors; Wikipedia is analyzed as an example. The result of such analysis is the identification and description of a pattern characterising specific services in which users collaborate by means of web tools with value co-producers during the service process. The pattern of collaborative co-production concerning several categories of services including knowledge based services is then discussed.

Molecular Dynamics of Fatty Acid Interacting with Carbon Nanotube as Selective Device

In this paper we study a system composed by carbon nanotube (CNT) and bundle of carbon nanotube (BuCNT) interacting with a specific fatty acid as molecular probe. Full system is represented by open nanotube (or nanotubes) and the linoleic acid (LA) relaxing due the interaction with CNT and BuCNT. The LA has in his form an asymmetric shape with COOH termination provoking a close BuCNT interaction mainly by van der Waals force field. The simulations were performed by classical molecular dynamics with standard parameterizations. Our results show that these BuCNT and CNT are dynamically stable and it shows a preferential interaction position with LA resulting in three features: (i) when the LA is interacting with CNT and BuCNT (including both termination, CH2 or COOH), the LA is repelled; (ii) when the LA terminated with CH2 is closer to open extremity of BuCNT, the LA is also repelled by the interaction between them; and (iii) when the LA terminated with COOH is closer to open extremity of BuCNT, the LA is encapsulated by the BuCNT. These simulations are part of a more extensive work on searching efficient selective molecular devices and could be useful to reach this goal.

Problem-based Learning Approach to Human Computer Interaction

Human Computer Interaction (HCI) has been an emerging field that draws in the experts from various fields to enhance the application of computer programs and the ease of computer users. HCI has much to do with learning and cognition and an emerging approach to learning and problem-solving is problembased learning (PBL). The processes of PBL involve important cognitive functions in the various stages. This paper will illustrate how closely related fields to HCI, PBL and cognitive psychology can benefit from informing each other through analysing various cognitive functions. Several cognitive functions from cognitive function disc (CFD) would be presented and discussed in relation to human-computer interface. This paper concludes with the implications of bridging the gaps amongst these disciplines.

Intention to Use Digital Library based on Modified UTAUT Model: Perspectives of Malaysian Postgraduate Students

Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model has demonstrated the influencing factors for generic information systems use such as tablet personal computer (TPC) and mobile communication. However, in the context of digital library system, there has been very little effort to determine factors affecting the intention to use digital library based on the UTAUT model. This paper investigates factors that are expected to influence the intention of postgraduate students to use digital library based on modified UTAUT model. The modified model comprises of constructs represented by several latent variables, namely performance expectancy (PE), effort expectancy (EE), information quality (IQ) and service quality (SQ) and moderated by age, gender and experience in using digital library. Results show that performance expectancy, effort expectancy and information quality are positively related to the intention to use digital library, while service quality is negatively related to the intention to use digital library. Age and gender have shown no evidence of any significant interactions, while experience in using digital library significantly interacts with effort expectancy and intention to use digital library. This has provided the evidence of a moderating effect of experience in the intention to use digital library. It is expected that this research will shed new lights into research of acceptance and intention to use the library in a digital environment.