NCBO Resource Index: Ontology-based search and mining of biomedical resources

The volume of publicly available data in biomedicine is constantly increasing. However, these data are stored in different formats and on different platforms. Integrating these data will enable us to facilitate the pace of medical discoveries by providing scientists with a unified view of this diverse information. Under the auspices of the National Center for Biomedical Ontology (NCBO), we have developed the Resource Index – a growing, large-scale ontology-based index of more than twenty heterogeneous biomedical resources. The resources come from a variety of repositories maintained by organizations from around the world. We use a set of over 200 publicly available ontologies contributed by researchers in various domains to annotate the elements in these resources. We use the semantics that the ontologies encode, such as different properties of classes, the class hierarchies, and the mappings between ontologies, in order to improve the search experience for the Resource Index user. Our user interface enables scientists to search the multiple resources quickly and efficiently using domain terms, without even being aware that there is semantics “under the hood.”     

Expertise Recognition and Influence in Intercultural Groups: Differences Between Face-to-Face and Computer-Mediated Communication

Expertise recognition is challenging in teamwork, particularly in intercultural collaboration. This research seeks to investigate how cultural differences in communication styles may affect expertise recognition and influence in face-to-face (FtF) versus text-based computer-mediated communication (CMC). Using experimental intercultural groups, we found that in FtF groups East Asian experts had a lower participation rate, and were perceived as less competent, less confident, and less influential than experts from Western culture. No such differences occurred in CMC. The results support mediated moderation effect of perceived confidence on expert influence such that changes in perceptions of Chinese and American experts' confidence accounted for their different levels of influence in CMC versus FtF. No such effect was found with participation rate.     

Management of the Quality of Corrosion Protection of Structural Steel Based on Corrosion Risk Level

The paper deals with the theoretical and practical aspects of improving regulatory and technical framework for assuring the quality and safety of metal structures and their protective coatings under the exposure of corrosive environment. Methodological approach has been developed to managing technological safety, assessing the risks of corrosion failures, and extension of an industrial facility＇s life based on company standards taking into account the requirements for safe operation of buildings and installations. Basic provisions of the method of limit states design have been analyzed to determine： design characteristics of corrosion impacts, computational models and design cases for affirming compliance of corrosion resistance, and durability and maintainability of structures and their protective coatings. Presented are practical examples of justifying the choice of means of primary and secondary protection, taking into account classification of the established levels of facility corrosion hazard. On the basis of limit state design principles, logistical control- and decision-making system is generated for reliability assurance of steel structures and protective coatings. Assessment criteria are specified for the risks with the use of the materials and technologies of primary and secondary corrosion protection.     

Immunoassay with multicomponent protein microarrays fabricated by electrospray deposition

Two new techniques were recently developed in these laboratories for fabrication of protein microarrays: electrospray deposition of dry proteins and covalent linking of proteins from dry deposits to a dextran-grafted surface. Here we apply these techniques to simultaneously fabricate 1200 identical microarrays. Each microarray, 0.6 x 0.6 mm2 in size, consists of 28 different protein antigens and allergens deposited as spots, 30-40 microm in diameter. The ability of the microarrays to detect IgG antibodies in plasma samples from mice immunized with different sets of antigens and IgE antibodies in human plasmas was examined using ELISA. Comparison of the microarray-based ELISAs with standard ELISAs in microtiter plates established that both techniques provided identical responses in 88% of all the antibody/antigen interactions tested. Both techniques showed similar antibody detecting sensitivity defined by the maximum dilution of serum at which a reliable signal distinguishable from the background was obtained.