Engineering in genomics

As bacterial genomic data accumulates in the public domain and the price of genomic sequencing falls, comparative-sequencing projects between multiple strains become an affordable option for both medical microbiologists and commercial firms interested in large-scale fermentation. To meet this need, biotech firms like MWG must first build up experience in bacterial whole genome sequencing and detailed gene annotation. There is also a need to combine this experience with bioinformatics and know how to be able to carry out useful comparative strain analysis. Finally, flexibility with bioinformatics and software offering to "customerize" the project to meet individual needs are necessary. It is believed that the approach outlined is an ideal and affordable way to tackle the issue of comparative sequence analysis.     

Engineering in genomics: the interdisciplinary nature of genomics

The Department of Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Washington is a unique example of how scientists and engineers may be trained and work together to develop new tools for cutting-edge biological research. The interdisciplinary CAP5000 Team, supported by the NIH SERCA program and Washington State, is another example of how biotechnology experts, engineers and industry can work together to fulfill some of the needs of the Human Genome Project and future needs of biotechnology research     

Engineering in genomics. Technical improvements in high throughputgenome sequencing

High-throughput DNA sequencing of the C. elegans genome currently is ongoing at our Genome Sequencing Center (GSC) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and at the Sanger Centre in Hinxton, England. Our collaborative effort is aimed at completion of this 100 Mb genome by the end of 1998. Now just into our fifth year of sequencing, we have amassed a combined output of over 22 Mb of completed sequence. The first two years of the pilot project were spent investigating and evaluating different approaches to genome sequencing with respect to throughput, ease of associated techniques, and methods and their robustness. The resulting approach has since been used to produce almost all of the genome sequencing data for C. elegans and will, with appropriate modifications, continue to be our strategy of choice for the completion of this genome sequence and the beginning of the human genome. The basic strategy consists of three phases: a library construction phase, a production sequencing (“shotgun”) phase, and a directed “finishing” phase     

Engineering in genomics: text comparison based on dynamic programming

Inspired by BLAST and related sequence comparison algorithms, we have developed a method for the direct comparison of query text against database text as an improvement upon traditional keyword-based searches. The primary application of our implementation, eTBLAST, is to better select those database entries (abstracts, in the case of MEDLlNE) of most relevance to a given query. eTBLAST takes as input natural text instead of keywords, allows refinement of retrieved hits through iteration, can be applied to any text (demonstrated here on biomedical databases), and allows inspection of the local space around a query through simple visualization methods.     

Engineering in genomics - Medline: the knowledge buried therein, its potential, and cost

A broader study of the knowledge contained in a Medline abstract requires the use of a different and more generalist approach that does not require very sophisticated language analysis approaches where the nature of relationships is not analyzed. The number of new co-occurrences would serve as a primitive measure of discovery, and since the first observation of new cooccurrence can be correlated with the publication date of the abstract in which it was noted, it is possible to estimate overall scientific productivity over time, and when the data are also correlated with research budgets, the cost of each new observation can be estimated.     

Engineering in genomics: the emerging in-silico scientist; how text-based bioinformatics is bridging biology and artificial intelligence

Current work in text-based bioinformatics has both immediate and future applications. It has been said that AI has not lived up to its promise, in part because AI is most successful at performing tasks that humans perform poorly and least successful at tasks where humans excel. That is, they excel at tasks such as classification and recognition, but have not been successful in employing methods of logic and reason-the traits we most closely associate with human intelligence. Perhaps AI needs to meet the grand challenges of biomedicine before it can be truly appreciated.     

Optimization techniques for string selection and comparison problems in genomics

In this article, a discussion of optimization issues occurring in the area of genomics such as string comparison and selection problems are discussed. With this objective, an important part of the existing results in this area will be discussed. The problems that are of interest in this paper include the closest string problem (CSP), closest substring problem (CSSP), farthest string problem (FSP), farthest substring problem (FSSP), and far from most string (FFMSP) problem. The paper presents a detailed view of the most important problems occurring in the area of string comparison and selection, using the Hamming distance measure is given.     

The Role of Systems Engineering in Electrical Engineering Education

Systems Engineering, including its subspecialties, has much to offer and is a needed component in electrical engineering education. Inclusion of efforts in systems engineering philosophy and methodology within the electrical engineering curriculum can do much towards the enhancement of student achievement of technical and management proficiency and, perhaps more importantly, towards achievement of appreciation of the vital role of the human element in resolution of large scale problems through technology. A framework for an introductory systems engineering course is described.     

高校工科专业提高工程能力方法的探索

为提高工科学生的工程实践能力,培养合格的工程师,结合宝鸡文理学院工科教学的实际情况,通过实践教学体系的改革、课程内容的优化,实验环节的工程化及实习基地教学科研的合作,从而达到工程训练的目的.通过几年来的实践,取得了较好的效果.     

Engineering Approach to Engineering Education

Various suggestions for modification of the electrical engineering curricula are briefly reviewed; importance of the laboratory is discussed; and guidelines for a new curriculum, based on a reasonably equal division between theory and laboratory, are presented.     

Integrating Engineering and Technical Communications in Sophomore Electrical Engineering Projects

Technical communications skills can be successfully taught to students in engineering courses without the expenditure of large amounts of class time if realistic design projects and reports are required of them. These design projects stimulate the acquisition of problem-solving skills by students. The use of handouts providing models of sample technical reports gives students reinforcement for the development of their technical communications skills.     

电网工程地质灾害之＿＿滑坡滑带工程地质性质研究

滑坡滑带的抗剪强度参数是滑坡稳定性分析的基本参数,直接影响着工程治理方案和治理工程量。基于对滑坡滑带地质性质的分析,提出了滑带土抗剪强度参数的确定方法和经验值,对电网工程滑坡勘察和治理具有参考价值。     

Engineering education in Europe

This article assesses the present situation of engineering education in Europe, which is attempting to come together at both academic and professional levels. It then describes the measures being adopted to provide an international flavor to the curriculum at the author's own college in France     

Engineering Education in Scandinavia

Engineering education, patterns, developments, and academic institutions in Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, and Norway) from the immediate post-World War II period to the present are described and current trends discussed.     

Biomedical Engineering in China

Biomedical engineering has had a remarkable growth in the past decade in China. With the significant increase in research funding in the past several years, our Chinese colleagues have enjoyed good times for biomedical engineering research and development. This special issue includes a collection of articles contributed by groups, which cover the broad spectrum of biomedical engineering research, including molecular imaging, cancer detection and treatment, health information technology, neural engineering, electrophysiology, and biomedical imaging.     

Engineering Education in Mexico

One consequence of the remarkable growth rate in the Mexican economy over the past two decades has been an equally remarkable engineering student population explosion, particularly during the decade of the 1960's. The present situation is, however, paradoxical in that the considerable improvement in educational opportunity and participation may well be out-pacing the growth rate which the economy can healthily maintain. This paper discusses the implications of this paradox on future trends and needed controls in educational development. Undergraduate and graduate engineering education, faculty, administration, and the status of engineering research in Mexico are described and discussed.     

The Impact of Engineering Technology Programs on Engineering and Engineering Education

Over recent decades, there has been an enormous expansion in the amount and complexity of scientific and engineering knowledge. Space exploration was climaxed by landing on the moon; solid state electronics has had significant impact in computers, controls, and a myriad of other devices; and nuclear fission is being used for the generation of significant quantities of electrical power. Besides learning about these expanded areas of knowledge, the engineering graduate must know the timeless basics as always. Also, it has become apparent that the public, with the increased complexity of our society, is asking that engineering solutions be related to society goals.