Document Clustering in Antimicrobial Peptides Research

Antimicrobial peptides are small peptides encoded by genes. The research area of antimicrobial peptides has attracted intense attention in recent years because “their potential use in the cure of infectious diseases caused by pathogens that have become counteractive to traditional antibiotics” (Boman 1994). There exist huge amount of antimicrobial peptides research articles and this number is continuously increasing. Although some biomedical databases, such as PubMed, have been well established, they provide only query-based information retrieval and end-users need to manually find out relevant information from thousands of retrieved articles. The objective of this paper is to apply one of the text mining techniques, document clustering, which groups similar documents into clusters, to text documents collected from PubMed using keyword “antimicrobial peptides”. The results of our work can help researchers to discover meaningful groups of antimicrobial peptides articles in an efficient manner

Assessing the Reliability, Validity and Adaptability of PSSUQ

Psychometrically qualified usability evaluation instruments offer many advantages to the usability practitioner. Advantages include objectivity, replicability, quantification, economy, communication, and scientific generalization. It is important that instruments used in usability evaluation have shown acceptable estimates of reliability, validity, adaptability and practicality. This paper compares the psychometric properties of the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire (PSSUQ) instrument in Lewis’ study to a recent study that tailored the PSSUQ instrument to measure the user satisfaction of the usability of a webbased health provider interface. Lewis reported that the PSSUQ had acceptable psychometric properties. However, Lewis’ stated PSSUQ had limited generalizability and needed further examination. This research validated the PSSUQ instrument using a larger sample size in a different domain. The factor analysis and the clustering of the sub-scale items were different than Lewis’ results. Nevertheless, this research concluded that the PSSUQ instrument is adaptable and produced solid psychometric results

Data Mining for Decision Support of the Quality Improvement Process

A two-stage methodology is presented for enhancing the process of assigning quality problems to quality improvement teams in industrial firms. The method advances the decision support system of the quality improvement process by grouping the related quality problems in two steps:. First, a soft grouping is performed using association rules as a data mining technique, and then, resulted groups are finalized by employing a costs minimization model. Moreover, to find the optimal groups, a mathematical programming language is used. Results show that this methodology is beneficial and attractive in making the quality improvement process more efficient and in providing support to managerial decisions for creating quality improvement teams. As a practical illustration, the implementation of this methodology is investigated for an EDM fast hole drilling process

Impact on Open Source Software Performance: A View from Social Structure

Open source software (OSS) has drawn increasing attention from both practitioners and researchers in recent years. However, few empirical studies have investigated the interaction process of OSS teams during OSS development. This research has two primary objectives. The first is to study the social structure of OSS teams. The second is to investigate the factors impacting the social structure of OSS teams as well as the effects of the social structure on OSS performance. Based on the social structure and social network theory, and group-related theories, this paper first presented a general research framework, then discussed research methodology, and finally describes a two-phase study plan. By exploring the relationships between group characteristics, social network, and OSS performance, the study contributes to the enhancement of knowledge on OSS development from the social structure perspective

Pluralistic Ignorance in the Personal Use of the Internet and System Monitoring

Previous research suggests that computer security countermeasures would be effective in preventing computer abuse in organizations. However, computer abuse problems still persist despite these efforts. This study proposes a new model of computer abuse that explains a causal link between abusive behavior and a psychological state toward this behavior, drawn on the theory of pluralistic ignorance. Pluralistic ignorance is a form of erroneous social interference that is both an immediate cause and a consequence of literal inconsistency between private attitudes and public behavior. Under pluralistic ignorance, mistakenly perceived social norms overwhelm personal attitudes and subsequently lead to overt behavior contrary to an actor’s attitude. This new model contributes to the theoretical body of knowledge on computer abuse by providing a new angle for approaching the problem. In addition, it suggests to practitioners that social solutions should be considered, along with technical countermeasures, to reduce the pervasive computer abuse problems

How Does Information Technology Effect Development? Integrating Theory and Practice into a Process Model

The concept of development suggests that countries and regions grow to become self-sustaining partners in what is being called the global economy. In more recent years this concept has been synonymous with the emergence of an “information society” whose wheels are oiled by information sharing and the application of knowledge. Some international agencies even propose that information and communications technologies enable development to be achieved more effectively and efficiently. While success stories abound, there is a recognition that not all investments in information technology bring about growth or economic development. So the question remains: how does information technology effect development? Following an overview of contemporary perspectives on development, this paper offers a model of socio-economic development and analyses what is known about the role of IT in bringing about development. In drawing upon an analysis of descriptive case studies, this paper concludes a Model of IT for Development

Exploring the relationship between knowledge management and organizational learning via fuzzy cognitive mapping

The normative literature within the field of Knowledge Management has tended to concentrate on techniques and methodologies for codifying knowledge. Similarly, the literature on organizational learning, focuses on aspects of those knowledge that are pertinent at the macro-organizational level (i.e. the overall business). There remains little published literature on how knowledge management and organizational learning are interrelated within business scenarios. In addressing this relative void, the authors of this paper present a model that highlights the factors for such an inter-relationship, which are extrapolated from a manufacturing organisation using a qualitative case study research strategy, supplanted by a cognitive mapping technique: Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM). The paper looks at the Information Systems Evaluation (ISE) process within a manufacturing organisation, the authors subsequently presenting a model that not only defines a relationship between KM and OL, but highlights factors that could lead a firm to develop itself towards a learning organisation

Economic Perspective on Cloud Computing: Three Essays

Improvements in Information Technology (IT) infrastructure and standardization of interoperability standards among heterogeneous Information System (IS) applications have brought a paradigm shift in the way an IS application could be used and delivered. Not only an IS application can be built using standardized component but also parts of it can be hosted by different organizations in different locations provided it can be accessed using the Internet. This dissertation is an attempt to uncover unique aspects of this phenomenon known as Software as a Service (SaaS). The first essay examines design decision making by SaaS providers by analyzing effects of two non-functional attributes of an IS Application - modularity and architectural performance. We model the relationship of the two attributes with factors such as demand, price, and user\u27s preference. The model includes marginal cost and maintenance cost to recognize the service aspect of SaaS. Our results show the optimal values of various decision variables while taking into account user\u27s sensitivity to modularity, architectural performance and price. The service component in cloud computing necessitates that the service providers plan for requisite delivery capacity. The second essay addresses optimal infrastructure capacity planning while taking into account the opportunity cost of having low capacity and cost of unused capacity in the case of high capacity. We develop a model which provides insight to a SaaS provider on optimal capacity planning of IT infrastructure when faced with a variable demand and performance expectations. The third essay focuses on financial risks faced by SaaS providers in the context of provider\u27s risk tolerance. We analyze the financial risk of provider\u27s decision making on pricing, capacity and other factors that may lead to financial risk as they are based on incomplete information. We built a model using Mean Variance Analysis theory for investigating the effect of provider\u27s risk tolerance on infrastructure capacity planning while taking into account modularity in software architecture and operational performance. This dissertation extends our understanding of significant issues facing a SaaS provider. The models presented here can form the basis for an extensive exploration of the phenomenon of SaaS specifically and Cloud Computing in general

Air Force Institute of Technology Research Report 2007

This report summarizes the research activities of the Air Force Institute of Technology’s Graduate School of Engineering and Management. It describes research interests and faculty expertise; lists student theses/dissertations; identifies research sponsors and contributions; and outlines the procedures for contacting the school. Included in the report are: faculty publications, conference presentations, consultations, and funded research projects. Research was conducted in the areas of Aeronautical and Astronautical Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electro-Optics, Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Systems and Engineering Management, Operational Sciences, Mathematics, Statistics and Engineering Physics