This volume introduces bioinformatics research methods for proteins, with special focus on protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) and networks. This book is organized into four parts and covers the basic framework and major resources for analysis of protein sequence, structure, and function; approaches and resources for analysis of protein PTMs, protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and protein networks, including tools for PPI prediction and approaches for the construction of PPI and PTM networks; and bioinformatics approaches in proteomics, including computational methods for mass spectrometry-based proteomics and integrative analysis for alternative splice isoforms, for functional discovery. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory or computational protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and thorough, Protein Bioinformatics: From Protein Modifications and Networks to Proteomics is a valuable resource for readers who wish to learn about state-of-the-art bioinformatics databases and tools, novel computational methods, and future trends in protein and proteomic data analysis in systems biology. This book is useful to researchers who work in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and in various academic departments, such as biological and medical sciences and computer sciences and engineering.

This volume introduces bioinformatics research methods for proteins, with special focus on protein post-translational modifications (PTMs) and networks. This book is organized into four parts and covers the basic framework and major resources for analysis of protein sequence, structure, and function; approaches and resources for analysis of protein PTMs, protein-protein interactions (PPIs) and protein networks, including tools for PPI prediction and approaches for the construction of PPI and PTM networks; and bioinformatics approaches in proteomics, including computational methods for mass spectrometry-based proteomics and integrative analysis for alternative splice isoforms, for functional discovery. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory or computational protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and thorough, Protein Bioinformatics: From Protein Modifications and Networks to Proteomics is a valuable resource for readers who wish to learn about state-of-the-art bioinformatics databases and tools, novel computational methods, and future trends in protein and proteomic data analysis in systems biology. This book is useful to researchers who work in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, and in various academic departments, such as biological and medical sciences and computer sciences and engineering.

How can public schools be improved? One radical solution that has been proposed is to provide parents with a voucher for a specified dollar amount for use at any public or private school (both religious and non-religious). Proponents argue that those children using the voucher would be able to attend more effective and efficient private schools, and that the loss of students (and revenue) to public schools would force them to respond by improving their programmes. Everyone would then be better off. In what has become a fiercely contentious and highly political debate opponents claim that moving to such a voucher system on a large scale would destroy public schools and exacerbate inequities in student outcomes by class and race/ethnicity. Both sides use research evidence from a small number of voucher experiments, and other sources, to bolster their claims. In this RAND Education book, the authors take a hard look at the evidence on vouchers in education. They consider what we know and what we would like to know more about: how vouchers would affect the academic achievement of participating and non-participating students, which students might use vouchers, who would supply and regulate schooling under a voucher system, and how much a voucher system would cost. After an exhaustive and critical review, the authors conclude that the evidence for many of the positions taken by either side in the debate is remarkably weak. For example, there is little rigorous empirical analysis that suggests public schools do any better job than private schools in promoting civic values or racial/ethnic integration, and that moving to a voucher system would have disastrous consequences. However, the evidence on the positive effects of vouchers on participating students is modest at best, and there is almost no grounded analysis of the key policy questions that policymakers need to consider before moving to a large-scale voucher experiment. This book should be a useful, unbiased primer for all those interested in this controversial topic.