This thorough volume provides an in-depth introduction to and discussion of microRNAs (miRs) and their targets, miR functions, and computational techniques applied in miR research, thus serving the need for a comprehensive book focusing on miR target genes, miR regulation mechanisms, miR functions performed in various human diseases, and miR databases/knowledgebases. Without prior knowledge of the area of study, computational biologists, computer scientists, bioinformaticians, bench biologists, as well as clinical investigators will find it easy to follow the techniques in this collection. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include the kind of detailed implementation advice that ensures successful results. Accessible and practical, Bioinformatics in MicroRNA Research functions as an ideal guide for researchers of all backgrounds to explore this vital area of study.

This thorough volume provides an in-depth introduction to and discussion of microRNAs (miRs) and their targets, miR functions, and computational techniques applied in miR research, thus serving the need for a comprehensive book focusing on miR target genes, miR regulation mechanisms, miR functions performed in various human diseases, and miR databases/knowledgebases. Without prior knowledge of the area of study, computational biologists, computer scientists, bioinformaticians, bench biologists, as well as clinical investigators will find it easy to follow the techniques in this collection. Written for the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series, chapters include the kind of detailed implementation advice that ensures successful results. Accessible and practical, Bioinformatics in MicroRNA Research functions as an ideal guide for researchers of all backgrounds to explore this vital area of study.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Workshop on Service-Oriented Computing: Agents, Semantics, and Engineering, SOCASE 2007, held in Honolulu, HI, USA as an associated event of AAMAS 2007. The volume is rounded off with selected four best papers from the Service-Oriented Computing and Agent-based Engineering Workshop, SOCABE 2006, held at AAMAS 2006.

Ontologies are formal, declarative knowledge representation models, forming a semantic foundation for many domains. As the Semantic Web gains attention as the next generation of the Web, ontologies' importance increases accordingly. Different ontologies are heterogeneous, which can lead to misunderstandings, so there is a need for them to be related. The suggested approaches can be categorized as either rule-based or learning-based. The former works on ontology schemas, and the latter considers both schemas and instances. This book makes 6 assumptions to bound the matching problem, then presents 3 systems towards the mutual reconciliation of concepts from different ontologies: (1) the Puzzle system belongs to the rule-based approach; (2) the SOCCER (Similar Ontology Concept ClustERing) system is mostly a learning-based solution, integrated with some rule-based techniques; and (3) the Compatibility Vector system, although not an ontology-matching algorithm by itself, instead is a means of measuring and maintaining ontology compatibility, which helps in the mutual understanding of ontologies and determines the compatibility of services (or agents) associated with these ontologies.