LIPPRED:a web server for accurate prediction of lipoprotein signal sequences and cleavage sites

Bacterial lipoproteins have many important functions and represent a class of possible vaccine candidates. The prediction of lipoproteins from sequence is thus an important task for computational vaccinology. Naïve-Bayesian networks were trained to identify SpaseII cleavage sites and their preceding signal sequences using a set of 199 distinct lipoprotein sequences. A comprehensive range of sequence models was used to identify the best model for lipoprotein signal sequences. The best performing sequence model was found to be 10-residues in length, including the conserved cysteine lipid attachment site and the nine residues prior to it. The sensitivity of prediction for LipPred was 0.979, while the specificity was 0.742. Here, we describe LipPred, a web server for lipoprotein prediction; available at the URL: http://www.jenner.ac.uk/LipPred/. LipPred is the most accurate method available for the detection of SpaseIIcleaved lipoprotein signal sequences and the prediction of their cleavage sites.

Using Web Sites External Views for Fuzzy Classification

In the paper a fuzzy sets implementation into web sites classification is considered. Web sites external features are addressed and the possibility to use them for the classification is proved. An example with five different categories classification is given.

Marketing Hospitality Web Sites

The web has emerged as a potent business channel. Yet many hospitality websites are irrelevant in a new and cluttered technical world. Knowing how to promote and advertise a website and capitalizing on available resources are the keys to success. The authors lay out a marketing plan for increasing hospitality website traffic.

Media web sites interactivity: Searching new ways to dialog with their users

Currently the media have made many new tools on their websites in order to broaden the dialogue with its users, a feature that has been called interactivity. The objective of this research is to describe the interactive resources of Chilean media websites. The analysis was conducted at 20 sites using a pattern of six dimensions with interactive forms which are today using identified. The findings indicate that digital media Chileans are expanding the possibilities of dialogue with users on social media, especially Twitter and Facebook, and the mediauser interaction is monological, that is to say, from the media to the user, but with very low feedback.

Database-backed library web sites: a case study of the use of PHP and MySQL at the University of Nottingham

This paper discusses the advantages of database-backed websites and describes the model for a library website implemented at the University of Nottingham using open source software, PHP and MySQL. As websites continue to grow in size and complexity it becomes increasingly important to introduce automation to help manage them. It is suggested that a database-backed website offers many advantages over one built from static HTML pages. These include a consistency of style and content, the ability to present different views of the same data, devolved editing and enhanced security. The University of Nottingham Library Services website is described and issues surrounding its design, technological implementation and management are explored.

'An Artificial Immune System as a Recommender System for Web Sites'

Artificial Immune Systems have been used successfully to build recommender systems for film databases. In this research, an attempt is made to extend this idea to web site recommendation. A collection of more than 1000 individuals' web profiles (alternatively called preferences / favourites / bookmarks file) will be used. URLs will be classified using the DMOZ (Directory Mozilla) database of the Open Directory Project as our ontology. This will then be used as the data for the Artificial Immune Systems rather than the actual addresses. The first attempt will involve using a simple classification code number coupled with the number of pages within that classification code. However, this implementation does not make use of the hierarchical tree-like structure of DMOZ. Consideration will then be given to the construction of a similarity measure for web profiles that makes use of this hierarchical information to build a better-informed Artificial Immune System.

'An Artificial Immune System as a Recommender System for Web Sites'

Artificial Immune Systems have been used successfully to build recommender systems for film databases. In this research, an attempt is made to extend this idea to web site recommendation. A collection of more than 1000 individuals' web profiles (alternatively called preferences / favourites / bookmarks file) will be used. URLs will be classified using the DMOZ (Directory Mozilla) database of the Open Directory Project as our ontology. This will then be used as the data for the Artificial Immune Systems rather than the actual addresses. The first attempt will involve using a simple classification code number coupled with the number of pages within that classification code. However, this implementation does not make use of the hierarchical tree-like structure of DMOZ. Consideration will then be given to the construction of a similarity measure for web profiles that makes use of this hierarchical information to build a better-informed Artificial Immune System.

The role of sensation seeking and need for cognition on web-site evaluations : a resource-matching perspective

The Internet theoretically enables marketers to personalize a Website to an individual consumer. This article examines optimal Website design from the perspective of personality trait theory and resource-matching theory. The influence of two traits relevant to Internet Web-site processing—sensation seeking and need for cognition— were studied in the context of resource matching and different levels of Web-site complexity. Data were collected at two points of time: personality-trait data and a laboratory experiment using constructed Web sites. Results reveal that (a) subjects prefer Web sites of a medium level of complexity, rather than high or low complexity; (b)high sensation seekers prefer complex visual designs, and low sensation seekers simple visual designs, both in Web sites of medium complexity; and (c) high need-for-cognition subjects evaluated Web sites with high verbal and low visual complexity more favourably.

Dating and intimacy in the 21st century : the use of online dating sites in Australia

This article examines the growing phenomenon of online dating and intimacy in the 21st century. The exponential rise of communications technologies, which is both reflective and constitutive of an increasingly networked and globalized society, has the potential to significantly influence the nature of intimacy in everyday life. Yet, to date, there has been a minimal response by sociologists to seek, describe and understand this influence. In this article, we present some of the key findings of our research on online dating in Australia, in order to foster a debate about the sociological impacts on intimacy in the postmodern world. Based on a web audit of more than 60 online dating sites and in-depth interviews with 23 users of online dating services, we argue that recent global trends are influencing the uptake of online technologies for the purposes of forming intimate relations. Further, some of the mediating effects of these technologies – in particular, the hypercommunication – may have specific implications for the nature of intimacy in the global era.

Standing on the shoulders of ants : stigmergy in the Web

Stigmergy is a biological term used when discussing insect or swarm behaviour, and describes a model supporting environmental communication separately from artefacts or agents. This phenomenon is demonstrated in the behavior of ants and their food gathering process when following pheromone trails, or similarly termites and their termite mound building process. What is interesting with this mechanism is that highly organized societies are achieved with a lack of any apparent management structure. Stigmergic behavior is implicit in the Web where the volume of users provides a self-organizing and self-contextualization of content in sites which facilitate collaboration. However, the majority of content is generated by a minority of the Web participants. A significant contribution from this research would be to create a model of Web stigmergy, identifying virtual pheromones and their importance in the collaborative process. This paper explores how exploiting stigmergy has the potential of providing a valuable mechanism for identifying and analyzing online user behavior recording actionable knowledge otherwise lost in the existing web interaction dynamics. Ultimately this might assist our building better collaborative Web sites.

In their own words: Why teenagers don't use social networking sites

We explored common reasons for non-use of the rapidly growing popularity of social networking sites among a sample of Australian adolescents (N = 69). Transcripts were coded by grouping responses along similar themes for non-use that had been commonly stated by participants. The primary reasons offered by adolescents were: lack of motivation, poor use of time, preference for other forms of communication, preference for engaging in other activities, cybersafety concerns, and a dislike of self-presentation online. The identification of these themes allows for a greater understanding of teenagers' decisions not to engage in the popular medium of communication and points to possible strategies that could be utilised by Web site developers in efforts to appeal to a wider teenage audience.

Classifying the user intent of web queries using k-means clustering

Purpose: Web search engines are frequently used by people to locate information on the Internet. However, not all queries have an informational goal. Instead of information, some people may be looking for specific web sites or may wish to conduct transactions with web services. This paper aims to focus on automatically classifying the different user intents behind web queries. Design/methodology/approach: For the research reported in this paper, 130,000 web search engine queries are categorized as informational, navigational, or transactional using a k-means clustering approach based on a variety of query traits. Findings: The research findings show that more than 75 percent of web queries (clustered into eight classifications) are informational in nature, with about 12 percent each for navigational and transactional. Results also show that web queries fall into eight clusters, six primarily informational, and one each of primarily transactional and navigational. Research limitations/implications: This study provides an important contribution to web search literature because it provides information about the goals of searchers and a method for automatically classifying the intents of the user queries. Automatic classification of user intent can lead to improved web search engines by tailoring results to specific user needs. Practical implications: The paper discusses how web search engines can use automatically classified user queries to provide more targeted and relevant results in web searching by implementing a real time classification method as presented in this research. Originality/value: This research investigates a new application of a method for automatically classifying the intent of user queries. There has been limited research to date on automatically classifying the user intent of web queries, even though the pay-off for web search engines can be quite beneficial. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Using the web to look for work: Implications for online job seeking and recruiting

Purpose - The web is now a significant component of the recruitment and job search process. However, very little is known about how companies and job seekers use the web, and the ultimate effectiveness of this process. The specific research questions guiding this study are: how do people search for job-related information on the web? How effective are these searches? And how likely are job seekers to find an appropriate job posting or application? Design/methodology/approach - The data used to examine these questions come from job seekers submitting job-related queries to a major web search engine at three points in time over a five-year period. Findings - Results indicate that individuals seeking job information generally submit only one query with several terms and over 45 percent of job-seeking queries contain a specific location reference. Of the documents retrieved, findings suggest that only 52 percent are relevant and only 40 percent of job-specific searches retrieve job postings. Research limitations/implications - This study provides an important contribution to web research and online recruiting literature. The data come from actual web searches, providing a realistic glimpse into how job seekers are actually using the web. Practical implications - The results of this research can assist organizations in seeking to use the web as part of their recruiting efforts, in designing corporate recruiting web sites, and in developing web systems to support job seeking and recruiting. Originality/value - This research is one of the first studies to investigate job searching on the web using longitudinal real world data. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.