Geneplanner: A Prototype of an expert system to assist with chemical DNA gene synthesis planning

Expert systems are a popular area of artificial intelligence. The development of an expert system involves the selection of an appropriate problem, acquisition of knowledge from the expert, selection of control mechanisms and knowledge repre sentations, selection of tools, implementation, and testing. This thesis describes the development of a prototype expert system in the area of genetic engineering. The prototype system suggests the fragments of DNA to chemically synthesize and the steps for joining these fragments in order to make a gene. The system follows the hueristic rules of an expert to select the fragments and strategy for synthesis, backtracking where necessary. After reviewing expert systems and the problem area, the thesis focuses on the development process. Each of the steps is discussed, and the iterative nature of implementation, testing, and refinement is displayed. Results are reviewed, showing Geneplanner to handle simple to moder ate cases fairly well. Finally, shortcomings are discussed and future enhancements are suggested

The Ursinus Weekly, February 21, 1974

Theatre production will start week of arts festivities • Service stations in Collegeville reflect national trends in current fuel shortage • Whitians name nineteen new members to group • Freshman class discusses donations, cut system • Open house policy to continue this semester • Strategy is key word in new club • Editorials: Solzhenitsyn: One man in the world; Behind the green porn • Letter to the editor: Faculty flops • Forum Review: Dr. Joseph Feldmeier • Alumni Corner: Dr. Jacob Shade • In concert: Yes, even closer to the edge • The Zodiac: Will Ursinus survive the Aquarian age? • Little known Bill of Rights, responsibilities makes its appearance after three years • What can you say? • Grapplers close season; boast 3 shut-outs in rowhttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1010/thumbnail.jp

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Consistency Management In A Project Management Assistant

Object management systems have been identified as the core of object-oriented software development environments. One of the most important objectives of object management systems is to maintain consistency between the vast amount of interrelated objects, which is generated, accessed, and manipulated throughout the software life cycle. Consistency management in such systems is beyond the reach of conventional database technology due to the complex structure and the incompleteness of data, the dynamic nature of constraints, and the need to tolerate various levels of inconsistency. We investigate the design issues for consistency management in the context of a Project Management Assistant. Our consistency manager organizes constraints into a hierarchy of consistency, and associates a spectrum of management techniques with classes of constraints. The various levels of consistency are achieved by enabling or disabling classes of constraints, and propagating constraints cross the class bound..