Prediction of protein-protein interaction types using association rule based classification

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund - Copyright @ 2009 Park et alBackground: Protein-protein interactions (PPI) can be classified according to their characteristics into, for example obligate or transient interactions. The identification and characterization of these PPI types may help in the functional annotation of new protein complexes and in the prediction of protein interaction partners by knowledge driven approaches. Results: This work addresses pattern discovery of the interaction sites for four different interaction types to characterize and uses them for the prediction of PPI types employing Association Rule Based Classification (ARBC) which includes association rule generation and posterior classification. We incorporated domain information from protein complexes in SCOP proteins and identified 354 domain-interaction sites. 14 interface properties were calculated from amino acid and secondary structure composition and then used to generate a set of association rules characterizing these domain-interaction sites employing the APRIORI algorithm. Our results regarding the classification of PPI types based on a set of discovered association rules shows that the discriminative ability of association rules can significantly impact on the prediction power of classification models. We also showed that the accuracy of the classification can be improved through the use of structural domain information and also the use of secondary structure content. Conclusion: The advantage of our approach is that we can extract biologically significant information from the interpretation of the discovered association rules in terms of understandability and interpretability of rules. A web application based on our method can be found at http://bioinfo.ssu.ac.kr/~shpark/picasso/SHP was supported by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean Government(KRF-2005-214-E00050). JAR has been supported by the Programme Alβan, the European Union Programme of High level Scholarships for Latin America, scholarship E04D034854CL. SK was supported by Soongsil University Research Fund

The politics of government reform in Korea : from tripartite to bipartite politicization

Government reforms in South Korea, beginning in the 1980s, moved toward deconcentration and deregulation in the 1990s and 2000s. However, the contents of the reforms under the “transformational” presidencies following democratization, which aimed to raise the quality of government and respond to increasing social polarization and political discord, did not significantly reduce state power or depoliticize policy making. Instead, state strength was consolidated through tripartite politicization: the rise of ministers as a third force in policy making vis-à-vis the president and legislature. Under the “post-transformational” presidencies of Lee Myung-Bak and Park Geun-Hye, government reforms can be summarized as bipartite politicization between the president and legislature, as ministerial power has been reduced

State political and economic capacities and the quality of government in Asia

This study analyzes the impacts of state political and economic capacities on the quality of government in 40 Asian countries. Quality of government data for 2002 and 2010 were obtained from four elements of the World Bank Governance Index, and the same or closest year's data for political and economic capacity were collected from other well-known indices. The analysis reveals that economic growth influences four elements in both developed and developing countries, although the effects of economic freedom differ between these two groups of states. While political capacity (i.e. civil empowerment, democracy, and press freedom) is found to have an effect on all four of the governance elements in developed countries, it influences just two elements in developing economies. Thus, the results suggest that the quality of government in Asia is not only improved by economic capacity but might also be enhanced by consolidation of democracy, particularly once a certain degree of economic development is achieved

Effects of floor impact noise on psychophysiological responses

The present study analysed the effects of floor impact noise on humans using both psychological and physiological methods. Floor impact noises caused by a standard impact source (i.e. impact ball) and five real impact sources (e.g., human footsteps and dropped objects) were recorded as sound stimuli. During the laboratory experiments, two factors that impact psychophysiological responses were considered: (1) types of impact sources (standard or real sources) and (2) the levels of floor impact noise ranging from 31.5 to 63 dBA in terms of A-weighted maximum sound pressure level (LAFmax). Twenty-one normal-hearing subjects were then asked to judge the noticeability and annoyance caused by the floor impact noises. Meanwhile, the subjects' physiological responses (heart rate: HR, electrodermal activity: EDA, and respiration rate: RR) were monitored throughout the experiments. Noise annoyance and noticeability increased with increases in noise levels, the impact ball resulted in higher noticeability and annoyance ratings than real sources. All physiological measures varied significantly with noise exposure; HR decreased, whereas EDA and RR increased. The results show that the physiological responses were not affected by the type of noise source. In addition, the noise level was found to be significantly related to EDA and RR changes, whereas the relationship between the noise level and HR was not found to be significant

Effects of non-acoustic factors on annoyance caused by floor impact sounds: A structural equation analysis

Previous research studies have addressed the relevance of non-acoustic factors in the perception of noise. However, the majority of these studies have focused on environmental noise, such as road traffic, railway and aircraft noises, and no attempt has been made to investigate the impact of building noises. In this paper, a conceptual model which explains the annoyance caused by floor impact sounds in apartment buildings was proposed based on previous findings and is subject to empirical testing. Online and paper questionnaire surveys were conducted in Korea and the questionnaire included questions designed to assess the impact of non-acoustic factors on annoyance caused by floor impact sounds, such as noise sensitivity and neighbourhood satisfaction. The structural equation model developed from the survey indicated that a negative relationship with neighbours resulted in greater annoyance, while a greater sensitivity to noise leaded to a greater perception of disturbance from noise. The various types of noises also produced different effects on relationship between noise annoyance and relationship with neighbours

A qualitative study of annoyance caused by floor impact sounds in apartment buildings

A qualitative study was conducted to investigate how residents in apartment buildings perceive and are affected by floor impact sounds. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in South Korea and Grounded Theory was used to analyse the data. Through three coding phases of Grounded Theory (open, axial and selective), verbatim transcripts of each interview were probed and the relationship between non-acoustic factors and noise annoyance was formulated. It was found that past experience of the issue, actual disturbance and each individual’s noise sensitivity influenced noise annoyance as causal conditions. In addition, the development from noise annoyance to coping behaviours was discovered to be influenced by intervening conditions: empathy and house or neighbourhood satisfaction. As consequences of individuals’ coping behaviours, having negative attitudes to the issue or relevant authorities, considering moving house as avoidance behaviour, health and relationship problems were identified