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Something I see many authors and publishers struggling with is effective amazon keyword research. In other words they aren't finding the keywords that will be profitable for them.
Every author or publisher should be focusing on amazon search engine optimization (amazon seo) as part of their marketing plan. The single most important factor of amazon search is keywords. It isn't enough to find popular keywords anymore. You have to find the ones where the people searching them are HUNGRY for information.
When you have the correct keywords and you've correctly taken advantage of amazons search algorithm you will be rewarded with your book (or product) ranking on the first page. Basically, you'll make tons of money.
In today's video I'll be discussing everything from the importance of keywords to how to find the most profitable ones.
Watch the video below:
( Click Here to Watch on YouTube )
Do you want to make more money selling books as a publishing or author? I'll teach you the specific techniques and strategies that have allowed me to sell 1000's of books. CLICK HERE to view my 1-on-1 Coaching Program.
Amazon Keyword Research and Amazon SEO
Keywords, one of the most important things about self-publishing. Today, I'm going to talk about the importance of keywords and how to find good ones. Well, ones that will make you money. If you don't know, if you're not familiar with publishing or you haven't published a book yet and don't know what keywords are, keywords are the specific words that people type into a search engine, like Amazon.com or Google.com or Bing.
Keyword Examples
These words are the words that they're using to search for something. A word could be the word "cookbook" or the word "diet" or the word "meditation," "baby food," anything like that. Those are words that people are typing in into search engines specifically to find something, whether that be information or whether that's product or a book that they're looking for or anything.
Now, this applies to book publishers, because in the online world, how is somebody going to find your book? By typing in a keyword, usually. Now, you know, they can also find them through book lists and through top cookbooks and top best-sellers and top whatever, but generally speaking, if they're going to find your book, they're going to find it by searching for it and using a keyword.
How Many Keywords Can I Use?
When you are actually in the process of publishing a book, you get to choose. On Amazon, up to seven keywords. So you get to tell Amazon seven keywords that you think your book should rank for and that you think is relevant to the customers searching. This is your opportunity to say, "Hey, Amazon, these are the seven keywords that I think the most customers who are typing these words in are going to want to buy my book," or my product. This applies to anything on Amazon.
The problem with that is it can be very difficult to find the keywords that actually matter and that actually are important. Specifically, that people are searching for, and even more specific than that, the keywords that people are searching for that are also people are buying from. Sometimes people search a keyword but they don't really buy a lot from it. Then, there's other times where people search a keyword, and almost every time they search that word, they buy a product. There's an important difference between that.
How to Do Amazon Keyword Research
So now let's talk about how to do amazon keyword research. To start off, you only want to pick words that are relevant to your book. Again, if you have a cookbook, you probably don't want to put the keyword "leadership" in or the word "tree," unless your cookbook is about trees and then maybe that's okay. You want to make sure that your keywords are relevant to your book, first and foremost, before anything else. After that, the only other requirement that you have is to find keywords that people are searching for and buying from. Amazon has a little nifty thing called BSR, Best-Sellers Ranking.
This is a way that Amazon ranks product and, in specific, books, from, I don't know, somewhere like a million all the way down to one. One being the best seller, a million being one of the worst-selling books that they have. Now, there's millions of book they have on their, so I'm sure the number probably goes beyond that. If you find a book on there that's number one, that's probably making thousands and thousands, probably $50,000 a month just from that one book, maybe more. I don't know. Who knows? Maybe a lot.
The whole general idea is that the lower they are on the ranking system, the more money they're making. The higher they are on the ranking system, the less money they're making. You can find this number by when you view a book, you scroll all the way down, and there's going to be a product details section. Then, it's going to say best-sellers ranking. Under that, it'll tell you the exact number, what position that book that you're viewing is in. With that knowledge, you know what books are selling well.
How to Tell if a Keyword is Profitable
Now, you can apply that through keywords. Go to Amazon, type in a word that you think is related to your book. I can't tell you what words to use, because I don't know what books you're publishing. I'm going to take a cookbook, for example. I'm not saying this is the word you should use for any cookbook, I'm just saying that this is just an example of how to use this.
So, let's say you have a cookbook. Who cares what the name is. You go to Amazon. You type in the word "cookbook" and click Search. Then, on the first page, you can open up every single book that's on the first page. Now, this can be a little tedious, but in the end, it's worth it. You open up every book on the page, and you can scroll down and view their best-sellers ranking. Generally, a book that's best-sellers ranking is 50,000 or less is making over $50 to $100 a month, which is decent. If a book makes $100 a month or more, that's an extra $100 a month every month you've got coming in.
A Good Rule to Live By
My rule of thumb for picking a good keyword is, in general, when you type the keyword in, like let's say the word "cookbook," and every single book on that list, on the first page, has a best-sellers ranking of less than 100,000, that's a decent keyword. That means that not only are people searching for that topic, but on top of that, people are buying on that topic, on that specific keyword. Type the word "cookbook" in. If they're all less than 100,000, it's probably a good keyword for your cookbook or for your book.
Now, you can type in other words like "diet" or more specific words like a specific type of cookbook or a recipe book or whatever. That's how you can tell if a keyword's good. If most of the books, not all of them necessarily have to be, but most of them are under 100,000, it's a good keyword. Now, if all of them are under 5,000, it's an excellent keyword. Obviously, that keyword is making thousands and thousands of dollars.
Keywords that Are too Popular Can Be Bad
Now, the one caveat here, the one problem, is that if you type in a keyword and every single book is below 5,000 on the ranking, meaning they're making a lot of money, that keyword is a good keyword but is going to be very difficult to get your book ranked for and to get your book seen, because there's so many competitive books. It's such a competitive word. I would say the balance with keywords that you want to use is picking keywords that are selling but are also not selling too well that you can't get in.
You can always change your keywords later. If you pick less popular keywords at first, you can then switch it up. Let's say your book starts to hit it off and starts to sell really well. Now you can change your keywords over to some more competitive keywords and rank for those once you already have momentum, once you're already going and you're already making money. That's how you find keywords. I'm sorry, that's not how you find keywords. That's how you do proper amazon keyword research. So best-seller ranking below 100,000. You can find it on the product page for any book or any product on Amazon. Basically, just search for a keyword and check the rankings.
Then, if a keyword isn't relevant, don't use it. Don't put it on there, because the customers aren't going to buy it. Again, if you type the word in, "tree," and a book on leadership pops up, nobody's going to buy it. They're not looking for that. In turn, you're not going to make money, and Amazon's not going to think your book is good. So don't do that. Don't pick non-relevant keywords. Also, don't pick too popular keywords unless your book's already selling well.
Another Method for Amazon Keyword Research
Another good method for amazon keyword research is similar to what I just said, type the word into Amazon, so like "cookbook," for example. Type the word "cookbook" and Amazon will give you alternative suggestions. You type in the word "cookbook" and Amazon might throw another word in the little list that pops up beneath it before you hit the send button to actually search for it. So when you're just typing it in, Amazon will give you other search terms that people are typing in. Those are good ones to check as well. You can check all of those on there and see if they're more relevant to your book maybe and also maybe sell better. You never know.
So that's how you do good amazon keyword research. Hopefully, this helped clear some things up for you!
Do you want to make more money selling books as a publishing or author? Maybe you need help with amazon keyword research? I'll teach you the specific techniques and strategies that have allowed me to sell 1000's of books. CLICK HERE to view my 1-on-1 Coaching Program.
Please subscribe below to get automatic updates on my latest videos and blog posts:
Thank you so much for your support, and if you have yet to leave a rating or review, please leave me an honest one on YouTube or below on the blog. I appreciate it!


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Separate names with a comma.
Discussion in 'Technical' started by dpeilow, Dec 16, 2008.
New Fuel Cell System 'Generates Electricity with Only Water, Air' -- Tech-On!
Interesting... but it has the sounds of snake oil. "It uses water, and a catalyst I won't tell you about..." I wonder if the catalyst is a 90 Amp electrical circuit?
This is months old, The car made it on the cable news networks. Complete with shots of filling the "box" with a glass of water. It had it's 15 minutes.
Yeah this is quite old. I think dpeilow picked it up because it was updated recently (don't know what they updated). It appears the car runs on something similar to metal hydrides, which react with water to create hydrogen and it then uses the hydrogen like a normal fuel cell vehicle would.
The energy comes from making the metal hydride and that's quite energy intensive. After you used it up you would have to refill, but they didn't mention that of course.
My car is water powered. And yours probably is, too, if you drive an EV in Washington State. I live in Spokane, where my local electric utility gets its power from the Bonneville dam. I.e. water that falls from the sky and winds up turning the turbines at the dam. My little three-legged clown car (Zap Xebra SD all electric) runs on the water that flows through the Bonneville dam. I know of a few other Xebras and Zenns in WA, and I gather there are some Roadsters in the state as well. The car in the cited article is a scam, and "water for gas" is a scam, but water-powered cars are real, if you live where there's hydro power. :biggrin:

subset: commoncrawl


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The Trewick Owl Trail
Continued this season: the Trewick Owl Trail set up in memory of museum volunteer, Ann Trewick.
Be warned: those naughty owls have roosted elsewhere over the winter and are joined by new friends!
The trail is open to all children who wish to search and find the eighteen owls placed round the museum. On successful completion there may be a reward – go to the museum shop to find out what it is!


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Are there any resistance band ab exercises?
People often wonder because it seems harder to think of ab exercises that it is possible to do with elastics...
Well, the advice is always the same: think about what you can do at the gym with free weights and cables, and try to recreate the same situation at home with elastics.
Here are the shortcuts and these are the ab workouts that we can do with resistance bands:
- Resisted Crunches
- Resisted Leg Crunches
- Abdominal Twists
- Side Raises
Anything that can add some resistance to the basic movement (crunching, bringing knees towards your chest) is good.
Resistance Band Ab Exercises - Crunches
There are two types of ab crunches: one is to bring your chest towards your knees, and the other is the opposite...to bring your knees towards your chest.
High Hook Ab Crunches
This is like the cable resisted crunches.
You need to anchor the resistance band to a high hook, like on top of the door. Then you grasp the handles and go down on your knees facing away from the door. That's your initial position.
You can keep your hands on your shoulders or in front of your face, it doesn't matter.
At that point do the crunch, just don't move your arms to pull down the elastic because you have to let your abs do it.
Leg Crunches
Leg crunch is the equivalent of leg raise.
The initial position is down on your knees, hands on the ground. Wrap one end of the resistance band around your ankle, and the other end is anchored to a low hook.
Does it remind you of the legs kickback exercise? Correct, it's the opposite.
You work one leg at the time, and that leg should be extended with the elastic in tension.
Then simply bring your knee towards your chest, and repeat with the other leg after a full set.
Resistance Band Ab Exercises for Obliques
Let's jump to lateral ab workouts with the next two exercises. I am talking about abdominal twists and side raises
Abdominal Twists
To do abdominal twists you need to anchor the elastic to a mid-height hook. If you buy the resistance band set that I recommend, it comes with a door hook.
The you grasp both handles and step away to make tension in the elastic. The hook must be on one of your sides and your arms should point towards the hook.
From there twist your body keeping your arms straight in front of you, and then return to the initial position.
Repeat with the other side.
Side Raises
How to do side raises with resistance band ab exercises? Here's simply explained.
In the initial position, you are upright, you wrap the elastic a couple of times around your feet (to make more resistance) and grasp the handles.
The bend on one side without bending your body forward. Focus on the obliques.
From there, do the side raise, which means return to the upright position. the oblique that you work is the one on the other side.
Repeat on the other side.
Side Raise with Low Hook
This is a variation of the classic side raises. Attach the elastic to a low hook (bottom of the door is perfect) and grasp both handles with one hand.
Step away to create tension in the band, the door on your side (so you're facing either left or right depending on which hand has the handles).
Bend on the side of the door and then do the raise to return to initial position.
Repeat on the other side.
Here is what I strongly recommend. A set of stackable (or adjustable) bands for your resistance band ab exercises:
Did you imagine that you could do so many resistance band ab exercises?
Well, I am glad you know now, good luck with your six pack!
Return from Resistance Band Ab Exercises to Resistance Band ExercisesReturn to Home Page


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Free Speech Muhammad
Muhammad's views of freedom of expression.
"I Forbid Satire, Mockery, or Ridicule! I Forbid Insulting or Offensive Cartoons!"
"I Encourage Murder, Arson, Kidnapping, Threats and Mob Violence!"
To me this seems self evident. Mob have attacked an embassy in Jakarta and set fire to embassies in Syria and Beirut. Mobs have incited murder in London. All the while these people are furious that anyone, anywhere would dare draw a cartoon of their demi-god Muhammad (Mohammed). Mobs across the "Muslim world" burn flags and effigies and chant "Death to Denmark" but the mere mention that rightist in Denmark would dare to plan to burn a Koran resulted in threats that "all hell would break loose."
They can dish it out but they can't take it. How can a whole culture be this insecure?


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He had put the 8,947-square-foot Southern Colonial on the market at $5.95 million in early January, according to the Multiple Listing Service, then withdrew it about a week later.
The five-bedroom, five-bathroom sits on nearly 1 1/2 acres entered through double gates. A tree-lined drive leads to the two-story home, which has a great room with soaring ceilings looking out on the backyard, a formal dining room, a screening room and an office. There is a tennis court, a swimming pool with spa and two guesthouses.
The property is co-owned by his ex-wife, actress Pamela Bach-Hasselhoff, and was purchased in 1996, public records show. Published reports at the time put their purchase price at $1.5 million.
The 57-year-old actor starred in "Baywatch" from 1989 to 2000 and its spinoffs and "Knight Rider" (1982-86).
Bach-Hasselhoff, 45, appeared in more than a dozen episodes of "Baywatch" from 1991 to 2000.
Patricia Hodson of Sotheby's International Realty, Sunset, and Gina Martino of Prudential California Realty, Beverly Hills, have the listing.


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Listen to City of Dreams (Prod by Flawless), the latest track from Young Cypher. The cut dropped on Friday, September 9th, 2011. Young Cypher's future brightens with every new release, and City of Dreams (Prod by Flawless) certainly isn't an exception. It's a fitting addition to a solid catalogue that Young Cypher has been developing since stepping foot in the game. We're excited to hear more.
Check out Young Cypher on How Close (Prod By Flawless). If you dig this, visit Young Cypher's profile for the latest info, news, songs, and mixtapes. Check out Young Cypher's Facebook and Twitter.
How do you feel about the production here?


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> > We may have been down this road already, but it would make a lot of sense to > push for a standard like using summary="" (null, literally two quotes with There would be so small a take up of the standard that it would be ineffective. You might also find that authoring tools started inserting this as default anyway, or started adding summary="summarise the table contents here". Another factor is that the standardisation process has assumed the use of style sheet positioning for four years now, so would consider it standardisation in a dead end area.Received on Tuesday, 20 November 2001 09:14:36 UTC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.3.1 : Tuesday, 13 October 2015 16:21:15 UTC


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Want to make Pulpit Rock truly feel like home? You've come to the right place.
Joining a small group is the best way to connect with people. Your small group will quickly feel like family. And that's what we are at Pulpit Rock … a family. After all, God is a relational God and we are made in His image. We were made for relationship.
Our goal is to develop true community where we are intentional about friendship … the kind that goes far beyond the surface. We focus on spending time together, sharing in each other's lives, addressing real-life issues, celebrating one another's victories and walking together through the hard times.
Does this sound like something you'd like to be a part of? We have many small group options so you can find the one that's right for you.


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Spread Inspiration by Hisham Wyne
Download now or listen on posterous
Download now or listen on posterous
Spread Inspiration.mp3 (3593 KB)
Kraft – Spread the Inspiration was meant to be a celebration of extraordinary women overcoming adversity. While that was still the thrust of the affair, it also carried the unmistakable stench of a good initiative conducted to check the 'CSR' box. But Kraft have the right idea. These women need to be celebrated. Yet, in my opinion, 'Spread the Inspiration' has a way to go in transparency, outreach and community involvement before it becomes the consequential event it wants to be.
Posted via email from Sfumato


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October 1, 2010
| Article
NAILS' Self-Portrait Contest has taken an international turn this year—the winner is Sri Lanka-based K. Prasad Silva Rajapaksa. A nail technician at Salon Cheveux in Colombo, Rajapaksa wowed the judges with her detailed depiction of herself. Closer to home, Alice Norton, a tech at Sydney Albert SalonSpa in Princeton, N.J., took second place and Shamina J. Di Mauro of Advanced Images and Nail Center in Baldwin, N.Y., claimed third.
Intricate floral stiletto nails won the NSI Free-hand Nail Art Competition, an online photo competition that invited nail techs from around the globe to use NSI acrylic or gel to create nail art designs. The entries were judged by Vicki Peters, Denise Wright, and Debbie Doerrlamm, who looked for difficulty of design, use of color, originality, overall enhancement design, and first impression (or the "wow" factor).
Sponsored by WWWeb Services and BeautyTech.com, the 2010 Strut Your Stuff Nail Art and Enhancement Contest will feature two categories: Enhancement and Mixed-Media Nail Art. There will be a junior and senior division in each category. The contest takes place on the BeautyTech website and runs from October 1-31, 2010.
August 1, 2010
| Demo
When Princess Gard decided to attend America's Beauty Show (ABS) earlier this year, she had no idea what to expect. Little did she know her entry would not only win her $500, but also a spot on the cover of NAILS Magazine.
July 29, 2010
| News
Medicool presents 10 lucky student nail techs with brand new TurboFile II electric files.
June 1, 2010
| Demo
When I went online to check out the winners of the CND Nail Style Competition, I had to doublecheck the name of the first-place winner. When I confirmed that it was really my name, I just started jumping and screaming — I'd just won an all-expense-paid trip to New York Fashion Week!
March 1, 2010
| Article
Nail artists compete in a challenge to win a trip to New York City Fall Fashion Week.
February 1, 2010
| Article
The Contessas are an annual beauty award program that shows off the best Canada's salon professionals have to offer.
The ninth-annual Strut Your Stuff Nail Art & Enhancement Contest, sponsored by WWWeb Services and BeautyTech.com, received 60 entries from 20 countries.
January 20, 2010
| Article
The Nail Station in Huntington, Ind., asked clients to create short stories using the names of the salon's OPI nail polish colors. Here are the first, second, and third-place winning essays.
January 1, 2010
| Article
Despite having been in business just six months, San Jose, Calif.-based That's So Pedi Nail Salon beat out well established salons to be voted #1 for manicures and #2 for pedicures in the Metro newspaper's 2009 Best of Silicon Valley reader survey.
The popularity of fimo cane nail art extends around the globe, as evidenced by these creative entries in the Aussie Nail Tips Forum's Fimo Nail Competition.
December 1, 2008
| Article
Congratulations to the winners of the Strut Your Stuff 8 Nail Art & Enhancement competition sponsored by WWWeb Services and BeautyTech.com. This year's event enjoyed a record number of entries from 15 countries and 23 U.S. states. Highly respected nail professionals as well as past contest winners sat on the judges panel to evaluate the entrants' masterpieces. Rita Jasinska of Poland took the title of "Best of Stuff," earning a $200 cash prize from NAILS.
November 11, 2008
| News
Jae Hoon Song of Nail Plaza in White Plains, N.Y. is the winner of a new Mercedes C230 courtesy of a SalonTech sweepstakes.
December 1, 2007
| Article
We asked and you told us what your favorite products are. From acrylics to wraps — and everything in between — NAILS announces the winners of our fourth annual Readers' Choice Awards.
CND Memento Mori Nails For Libertine A/W 201919 photos
Gender Reveal Nail Art17 photos
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Our Story
The 24 Tap Room is a Florida-forward craft beer and wine bar featuring 24 different draft beers on tap, right here in Leesburg, Florida!
We of course have your classic nationally recognized beers, but we are focused on bringing an ever-changing selection of some of the best locally-brewed craft beer in the state, as well as great craft beers from across the country, to our discerning beer lovers in Lake County!
We aim to create a casual, friendly environment that locals and visitors-alike will enjoy.
In addition to our craft beers, cider, and wine selections, we also have a great kitchen featuring a rotating menu ranging from traditional fare with a fresh twist, to completely unexpected, new favorites!


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Class Curriculum
The Morning Star program at St. Patrick's Interparish School serves children in Kindergarten through the 8th grade who are developmentally delayed. We are one of the few programs in the private school setting which strives for inclusion of special education students into the regular educational classroom. The Morning Star program is designed to promote a child's social, emotional, physical and cognitive development. The inclusion program provides an environment in which children in need of special education services are learning with and from their non-disabled peers in an inclusive setting.
Morning Star opened its doors in the 2015/2016 school year with only a handful of students. In the past two years, Morning Star has grown to its current size of seventeen students, two teachers, and four paraprofessionals. All of the students participate in regular classes for the majority of their academic subjects.
The Elementary Morning Star program(K-4) focuses on intense intervention for reading, math, and language arts in a multisensory approach. Additional emphasis is placed on social skills, positive behavior reinforcement, and self-regulation. We provide special education services that meet the individual needs of the child, are developmentally appropriate and strength-based. These services are planned in collaboration with all staff who are involved in the child's daily academic journey and are provided in a supportive positive learning environment. Click here to learn more about the Elementary Morning Star Program(K-4).
The Middle School Morning Star program continues to focus on intense intervention for reading, math, and language arts. The students have individual schedules to meet their needs, with inclusion in enrichment classes, religion, social studies, and science. We use paraprofessionals to assist in the general education classes. In our Morning Star classroom, students work in small groups and on individualized instruction. During STREAM on Wednesdays, the Middle School Morning Star students participate in a mentor program to enhance social skills and interactive language. Morning Star students participate in field trips as well.
St. Patrick Interparish School is an official chapter of Best Buddies. It is an international program which pairs up a Buddy student with a student with special needs of the same age. They attend monthly meetings and social functions together. This program builds friendships while offering social mentoring and improving the quality of life and level of inclusion. https://bestbuddies.org/what-we-do/friendship/
All Morning Star students participate in daily specials with their general education peers: Physical Education, Art, Technology, Spanish, Library, and Music. All students participate in all school activities and field trips. They also participate in weekly STREAM classes: Science, Technology, Religion, Engineering, And Mathematics.
Our staff works diligently to fulfill its mission to provide children with special needs the opportunity to embrace and reach their individual potential - to guide and support their individual and unique spiritual, academic, social, physical, and emotional journey.
Interested families should contact the school office, and their information will be directed to one of the Morning Star teachers for additional information
Morning Star School Supplies
Morning Star Elementary Supply List 2017-2018
- 1" white 3 ring binders with clear front pocket
- Flip Crayons
- Composition Books
- Clorox Wipes
- Solid color plastic 2 pocket folder
- Visa-a-vis Markers
- Hand Sanitizer
- Kleenex
- Dry Erase Markers
- Ziploc Slider Gallon Bags
- Ziploc Slider Sandwich Bags
- Large purple Glue Stick
- Colored copy paper OR white cardstock (not construction paper)
- Colored 3x5 Index Cards AND 4x6 Index Cards
- Water Beads
- Lysol Disinfectant
- Play-Doh
- Paper Towels
- Baby Wipes
- Water Color Paints
Morning Star Middle School Supply List 2017-2018
- 1 - 3" white binder with clear plastic cover
- 3 - 1" white binders with clear plastic covers
- 10 dividers or 10 poly-pro folders with 3 holes to fit in binder
- Zipper pouch for supplies
- 3-hole filler paper refills
- Pencils
- Sheet protectors
- Colored Pencils
- Markers
- Hand sanitizer
- Kleenex
- Ziploc Slider Gallon Bags
- Personal Toiletries to be stored at school
- PE Uniform
The following items are needed within our Morning Star Program. In addition to your classroom supplies, if you are able to, you can donate the following materials to our program.
**ALL items will be used communally. Do not label items


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The Stitch Academy
The Stitch Academy is the community component of the Hackney Walk project and is designed to deliver innovation, training and employment opportunity within the fashion, manufacturing and retail industries and to support the wider generation of Hackney.
The Stitch Academy's main purpose is to support the development of the local fashion industry and ensure that the local community benefits from the development of the project, both employment and training and the wider transformation of the area as the development takes shape.
The Stitch Academy will have 4 key themes
- Providing affordable workspace for the local fashion industry
- Supporting innovation within the UK fashion industry
- Supporting young local fashion designers and the creation of fashion cluster in Hackney and East London
- Supporting the regeneration of Hackney and providing employment and training opportunities for residents of Hackney in fashion and retail
You can view the latest Stitch Academy free workshops for March & April 2017 here.
Delivering innovation and opportunity within the UK fashion industry
The Stitch Academy is constantly seeking innovation and new opportunities within the fashion industry. Hackney Walk is about crafting innovation and driving the fashion industry forward creating economic resilience and the right conditions for the UK fashion industry to thrive.
The Stitch Academy is creating a high level board of key figures from the fashion brands, manufacturers and designers to develop new ideas and support the growth of the fashion industry.
The board will examine how Hackney Walk and the Stitch Academy can support major issues within the fashion industry such as on shore manufacturing and the development of high quality education and training opportunities for young people within the fashion and retail industries.
Designer in Residence - Free workspace bursary
Every year the Stitch Academy offers a free workspace bursary for a young East London based designer to become the Designer in Residence at Hackney Walk and Stitch Academy. This is to support a local fashion designer at the beginning of their business career during the early stages.
"The studio space is allowing me to expand my business by having a productive, purpose built space to work in, in a great location; which otherwise might not be an option at this stage in my career if I wasn't receiving the support of Hackney Walk" – Ashley Williams (current Designer in Residence 2016/17).
East London Fashion Cluster
Hackney Walk and The Stitch Academy are key partners in the development of East London as a fashion cluster, working with the Greater London Authority and The London College of Fashion and a host of other key partners, we are creating the right business and educational conditions for East London to become the UK and Europe's leading fashion district.
Local supply chains and supporting local businesses
The Stitch Academy oversees and promotes opportunities for local businesses to get collaborate with Hackney Walk in areas outside of the fashion industry. The Stitch Academy promotes opportunities for local food and beverage companies to become a key part of the story. So far Hackney Walk has helped 6 local food and beverage brands to open new businesses.
The Stitch Academy is also supporting the regeneration aspirations of Hackney Council and key partners to redevelop Hackney Central town centre.


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Related Products
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Hello and Happy Monday friends from across the globe! I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!
We are starting off this new week posting about what many might consider a rather touchy subject. It has come to my attention that several people may have experienced some frustration after I recently shared a photo on facebook of a sign in a doctor's office stating that they do not give flu shots. I shared this photo because I believe it's time people start realizing that just because someone (i.e. the media, Walgreens, etc) says you should do something doesn't necessarily mean that you should. I wish more people realized that they have a choice whether or not to get the flu shot, a right to know what potentially dangerous chemicals it contains and possible drawbacks to getting it.
However, doctors and nurses everywhere save lives every day. They come to work day in and day out dedicating themselves to helping others. How many of us can say that about ourselves? So to doctors and nurses everywhere, here is me saying that I appreciate what you do for us. I think we are lucky to live in a country with amazing advancements in medicine, but I also feel that we should be doing more to prevent disease instead of treating symptoms or waiting for things to get bad, as they inevitably will without preventative care. My frustration lies in the media, big pharma companies and doctors that don't listen.
Unfortunately it only takes one bad apple to tarnish a name. It's that one dirty player that gives the team a bad reputation, the one ref that makes the bad call or maybe it's a family with a misunderstood child. In this case, I feel that it is because of years of treatment by uneducated doctors that helped land me in the position I am today—dealing with side effects and issues from years of being over-medicated.
Do I believe in the flu shot? No, I most certainly do not. I think it does more harm than good. But we live in the United States, where we have the right to say, think and feel as we so desire. It is for that same reason that I withhold judgement towards others that DO get and believe in the flu shot. Am I going to vaccinate my children? Yeah, probably. Word on the street is that they can't get into school otherwise. Am I thrilled about that? Not particularly. But I do think it's great that my children won't have to get the measles.
I've gained and continue to gain knowledge as I grow older, and one of the most important things to me is that people realize that there are two sides to every story. For instance, big pharma companies fund studies and publish research about how their drug cures "such and such" disease. Maybe it does, but there's also about 100 side effects it causes as well, which are severely downplayed. Fruits and vegetables, physical activity and plenty of rest can prevent those diseases and even reverse ailments in some cases too, but no one can get rich off fruits and vegetables like they can a prescription medication. No one is going to fund research that proves vegetables can make you better because then what…? People might actually start eating them, and might become healthier?! If that happens, they won't need the big pharma company's medications, then the pharma companies go out of business—heaven forbid!
Again, these are my ramblings. There's a million other people on the internet rambling about things you may or may not agree with. But my current thoughts and feelings stem from past experiences as well as my current state of well being which very honestly right now—is sheer frustration. Frustration because I feel like I was mislead for more than half of my life and am now paying the price. And most recently, frustration that I tell my ENT doc that I'm looking for a lasting drug-free solution to my problem, and he does just the opposite by writing me prescriptions for decongestants and steroids. He's probably just busy, but he's not listening. On the other hand, I have several natural doctors that I'm working with that do listen to me, and I feel as if they truly care about me. They treat me like a person, not a number, and are dedicated to finding natural solutions to my issues that will make me happy and healthy.
So to the doctors and nurses out there, thank you. Thank you for doing what you do, day in and day out. Thanks for understanding that the shared photo comes from a girl who's quite frustrated, like yourself. In the end, we all want to be happy and healthy. So let's band together!
Peace, love and understanding,


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NYC Graffiti
To be a better Product Manager, I wanted to increase my knowledge of how a tech-stack works together, learn its limitations, use real data to support or disprove a hypothesis, and visualize said data in an easy, consumable way. Here is what I did to get here.
I noticed the same graffiti along my daily commute for the past 2 years and I wondered if people every reported it and if NYC actually cleaned it up. My guess was people do report it but the city doesn't really care about it. Next, I pulled NYC's open source data on graffiti reports from April 2015 - May 2016. I taught myself a bit of SQL to parse the data in various ways to see if it supported or refuted my hypothesis.
Once I discovered some interesting trends, I used mapbox.com to visualize it. This led me to learning how to create .json files, a better understanding of how vector maps work, and familiarizing myself with a little bit of JavaScript.
After I created the maps below, I concluded that of the 13,585 reports of graffiti in one year, 59% of those reports were cleaned up before the police precinct's average number of days to clean.
In short, people do report graffiti and people do care about cleaning it up. To put it into perspective, there are about 2,200 city blocks in Manhattan and 3,434 reports in the past year. That's 1.56 reports for every block in Manhattan.


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This is a weekly meme hosted by One Person's Journey Through A World Of Books. It's Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.
Currently Reading:
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
I've Finished:
Ashlyn's Radio by Wilson Doherty (4 Stars)
Firelight by Sophie Jordan (4 Stars)
Destined for an Early Grave by Jeaniene Frost (5 Stars)
What are you reading this week?


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Complex digital ecosystems of people, systems and things
requires a highly-scalable and secure IoT Platform
Securely manage access, lifecycle and relationships across business ecosystems.
Connected Products
Smart, connected products offer expanding opportunities for innovative functionality and capabilities across traditional boundaries – enabling new business ecosystems.
Connected Processes
Manufacturing and asset intensive industries need to manage and implement predictive and prescriptive maintenance programs across value chain ecosystems – driving transformation.
Digital business transformation – and the Internet of Things
Covisint had the opportunity to sit down with Frank Gillett from Forrester to discuss the ever-changing landscape of IoT and business transformation. Frank gives great insight not only on IoT in general, but identity management's role in this emerging market.
Digitally transform your business with
smart, connected products
Competition is global — is getting tougher — and with digital business transformation at the core of important strategic initiatives these days, executives are looking to innovate and think outside the box. It has become critical for enterprises to innovate with new revenue models and transform the ways in which business is conducted. Customers expect more value for their money, services and personalized experiences — ensuring high-quality of products takes effort and is essential for customer retention. Accelerated time-to-market means the ability to update and adjust future models quickly to align with customer needs.
Security around user data is crucial and data architecture must be planned meticulously. Smart, connected products play a significant role in how companies think and adapt to a changing world. From customer-centricity to improving efficiencies across the value chain, connected products enable companies to cut across and transcend traditional product boundaries.
The Covisint IoT Platform enables strategic, digital transformation initiatives with a purpose-built PaaS – delivered securely and at scale.
Deliver asset performance management with
smart, connected processes
Manufacturers have been connecting manufacturing assets together for a long time. Since the advent of programmable logic controllers (PLCs) and distributed control systems (DCSs) almost 50-years ago, the digital age and machine-to-machine (M2M) communication has permeated the plant floor. This has led to incremental improvements in productivity, quality, and equipment reliability as increased data has led to better insight into manufacturing processes.
Manufacturing and allied asset intensive industries like mining, energy, and utilities are on the verge of radical changes brought on by the convergence of information technology (IT) with a host of operational technologies (OT). The industrial IoT, big data, and predictive analytics is impacting the way manufacturers and asset intensive industries pursue operational excellence. Asset performance management (APM) has become a core competency thanks to smart, connected assets. The industrial IoT allows enterprises to gain more insight from their assets, better manage operational risk, and improve their overall effectiveness.
The Covisint IoT Platform enables manufacturing and asset intensive industries to manage and implement predictive and prescriptive maintenance programs and pursue operational excellence – connecting ecosystems of people, systems and things across the connected initiative.
The Covisint Platform – IoT Components
Relationship & Lifecycle Management
Relationships between people, systems and things – and the management of their lifecycles.
Ecosystem Management
Secure, enable and manage trusted interactions in complex digital ecosystems.
IoT Messaging
Integration of legacy and modern messaging technologies enable rapid go-to-market initiatives.
Unified Data Model
Normalize the data across people, systems and things – no matter the underlying technology.
Hyundai securely connects owners to their vehicles
Building a lasting relationship with customers and improving the driving experience is a top priority for this company. In order to improve the experience of ownership, this multinational auto manufacturer wanted to create a system for delivering subscription services that extend value beyond driving – connecting drivers to their cars at all times.
The Covisint IoT Platform makes it possible to share information securely between owners, vehicles and applications on multiple devices and service providers, enabling this industry leader to unlock new revenue streams through connected services. With a 360° view of the ecosystem, revolving around vehicle owners, Hyundai is able to create a highly personalized, valuable experience for owners, resulting in increased brand loyalty.


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- Research article
- Open Access
Identification of core T cell network based on immunome interactome
© Teku et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2014
- Received: 5 July 2013
- Accepted: 5 February 2014
- Published: 15 February 2014
Data-driven studies on the dynamics of reconstructed protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks facilitate investigation and identification of proteins important for particular processes or diseases and reduces time and costs of experimental verification. Modeling the dynamics of very large PPI networks is computationally costly.
To circumvent this problem, we created a link-weighted human immunome interactome and performed filtering. We reconstructed the immunome interactome and weighed the links using jackknife gene expression correlation of integrated, time course gene expression data. Statistical significance of the links was computed using the Global Statistical Significance (GloSS) filtering algorithm. P-values from GloSS were computed for the integrated, time course gene expression data. We filtered the immunome interactome to identify core components of the T cell PPI network (TPPIN). The interconnectedness of the major pathways for T cell survival and response, including the T cell receptor, MAPK and JAK-STAT pathways, are maintained in the TPPIN network. The obtained TPPIN network is supported both by Gene Ontology term enrichment analysis along with study of essential genes enrichment.
By integrating gene expression data to the immunome interactome and using a weighted network filtering method, we identified the T cell PPI immune response network. This network reveals the most central and crucial network in T cells. The approach is general and applicable to any dataset that contains sufficient information.
- Protein-protein interaction
- Network
- Filtering
- T cell
- Signaling
Cellular interactomes often consist of large numbers of proteins with even larger numbers of connections between them. Typically in protein-protein interaction (PPI) network nodes represent proteins and the links represent relationships between them. This network representation enables the study and visualization of the reconstructed cellular systems.
Data-driven studies on the dynamics of reconstructed PPI networks facilitate investigation and identification of proteins important for a particular process and reduces time and costs of experimental verification [1, 2]. Modeling the dynamics of very large PPI networks is computationally very costly. To circumvent this problem, one needs to identify relevant core components of networks without losing vital information. A PPI network constituting most of the relevant core of a cellular system is sufficient to study its dynamic properties [3].
Many methods have been developed to reduce complex directed and undirected networks to their core components. Some of the methods include topological centrality techniques [4], synthetic biology approaches of the minimal gene set of a cell [5, 6], complex systems coarse-graining [7, 8], and filtering approaches [9–11]. In the centrality methods, topological centrality of nodes is used to identify the non-redundant links and to delete the redundant ones [11]. Minimal gene set approaches aim to identify genes that are crucial for life sustenance and cannot be inactivated under specific optimal growth conditions. These approaches do not take into account interactions between essential gene products [5]. The coarse-graining approaches identify specific motifs in a network, and collapse and replace them by a single node [8]. This process is repeated until there are no more motifs. The final network is less complex but does not consider the structural heterogeneity and broad weight distribution, i.e. the multi-scale nature, of cellular networks.
Network filtering approaches have also been used to reduce network complexity [10–13]. Those that preserve the inherent multiscale structure of natural complex networks have been shown to be better in revealing most of the important components of networks [11, 13]. These approaches score the nodes or links, and enable the deletion of those that do not deviate significantly from a null model.
In this study, we identified the network of proteins relevant in T cells by filtering the immunome interactome using the result from Global Statistical Significance (GloSS) [13] algorithm and a constraint of connectivity of the T cell receptor (TCR) signaling pathway. We compiled genes for the major immune processes and used them to reconstruct the immunome interactome, i.e., all the PPIs of the immunome. We then integrated gene expression profiles for the corresponding genes across several experiments. Jackknife correlation for gene expression was then used to weigh links between the proteins encoded by the genes. To maintain the multiscale structure of the network during filtering, we used the GloSS algorithm. This algorithm utilizes a global null model of the link weight and the degree distribution of the network. It computes the statistical significance for each link. For the null model, GloSS assigns weights from the weight distribution of the network, independently and randomly, without changing its topology. We filtered the network by deleting links based on their p-values (computed by GloSS) in descending order. To determine the endpoint of the filtering, we imposed as a constraint, the existence of a single path between the components of the NF-κB and TCR complexes.
Because we investigated the global and aggregate characteristics of the system and integrated T cell gene expressions, we can assume that the filtered network contains most of the components central for T cell signaling [14]. This was supported by Gene Ontology (GO) and essential genes enrichment analysis.
Protein-protein interaction network
KEGG pathways used to supplement IKB dataset
KEGG identifier
Name of KEGG pathway
MAPK signaling pathway
Chemokine signaling pathway
Cell adhesion molecules
Antigen processing and presentation
Toll-like receptor signaling pathway
NOD-like receptor signaling pathway
RIG-1-like receptor signaling pathway
Jak-STAT signaling pathway
Hematopoietic cell lineage
Natural killer cell mediated cytotoxicity
T cell receptor signaling pathway
B cell receptor signaling pathway
FcϵRI signaling pathway
FcγR-mediated phagocytosis
Leukocyte trans-endothelial migration
Intestinal immune network for IgA production
Complement and coagulation cascades
Cytosolic DNA-sensing pathway
Gene expression correlation
Next, the mean of the jackknife Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was calculated for the pre-processed and merged expression values for all gene pair combinations. In total, 1140 genes representing 5164 gene pairs encoding interacting proteins in the immunome interactome were used for further analysis.
T cell-specific PPI network
We reconstructed the immunome PPI network as a weighted and undirected graph. The nodes, links, and link weights of the graph represent, respectively, the immunome protein coding genes, the PPIs and the absolute value of the mean jackknife expression correlation between the connected immunome protein coding genes.
The topology and weight distribution of naturally occurring complex weighted networks are heterogeneous and tightly connected. This makes the identification of the relevant structure that maintains the multiscale nature of the network nontrivial. Thus, we used the GloSS algorithm [13] to compute a p-value, for each link. GloSS identifies the relevant backbone of a weighted graph while retaining the multiscale coupling of its weight distribution and topological characteristics. It uses a global null model that describes both the structure of the network and its weight distribution. The p-values computed by GloSS were used to filter the network by deleting links based on their p-values, in descending order. We monitored the filtering process to make sure that the central networks between TCR, and NF-κB and NFAT signaling pathways remained intact. These pathways have been shown to be crucial for T cell signaling [26, 27] and therefore cannot be disconnected without destroying essential cellular processes.
General structure of the T cell PPI network
Number of nodes in connected component
Number of links
Number of components in the network
Correlation distribution before and after filtering
Effect of noise on the filtering procedure
To test the sensitivity of our filtering procedure to noise we introduced randomness to the immunome interactome, before performing filtering, by randomizing fractions of the link weights while preserving the topology of the network. We refer to these networks as the Link Weight-Randomized Networks (LWRNs). Nine such networks were created based on the fraction of weights randomized. Thirty iterations were conducted for each LWRN. Each iteration consists of choosing randomly a fraction of links, reassigning their weights randomly, conducting the filtering procedure, and calculating network topology statistics. The topology features calculated for each iteration include node degree, average path length, betweenness centrality of both the nodes and the links, clustering coefficient of the network, and the intersection between the TPPIN and the LWRN. These measures indicate the local and global connectivity of a network. We retained the average of the above quantities.
Gene Ontology over-representation and semantic similarity analysis
GO biological process term enrichment for TPPIN
Number of significant vs. annotated genes
Expected number of genes
Raw vs. adjusted P value
positive regulation of lymphocyte activation
5.40 × 10-09/9.74 × 10-07
regulation of programmed cell death
4.77 × 10-10/4.60 × 10-07
regulation of immune response
6.79 × 10-09/1.11 × 10-06
negative regulation of cellular process
1.05 × 10-08/1.62 × 10-06
positive regulation of cell activation
7.04 × 10-08/5.59 × 10-06
positive regulation of response to stimulus
5.10 × 10-08/4.40 × 10-06
regulation of apoptotic process
4.04 × 10-10/4.60 × 10-07
intracellular protein kinase cascade
3.13 × 10-08/3.40 × 10-06
Cytokine mediated signaling pathway
3.85 × 10-09/8.07 × 10-07
protein phosphorylation
3.63 × 10-08/3.51 × 10-06
To better investigate the similarity or difference between the immunome interactome and the TPPIN network, we explored semantic similarity of the networks using the GOSemSim package available from R/Bioconductor. The semantic similarity ranges between 0 and 1. The similarity between the immunome interactome and TPPIN proteins in the biological process and molecular function terms were very high, i.e., 0.91 and 0.92, respectively, indicating that the TPPIN is very representative of the immunome interactome.
Essential genes over-representation analysis
Essential genes overrepresentation
Number of genes
Number of genes annotated in MGI
Number of lethality genes annotated in MGIa
Expected number of lethality genes in MGI
P-value for hypergeometric test
Immunome interactome
1.37 × 10-10
Interconnection of T cell-specific pathways
Discussion and conclusions
In this study, we identified the network of proteins relevant for T cells by filtering the multiscale immunome interactome using the GloSS filtering algorithm [13]. We compiled the genes for the major immune processes and reconstructed the immunome interactome. Then we integrated gene expression profiles across several gene expression experiments. The jackknife correlation for gene expression was used to weigh links between the proteins encoded by the genes. Next, we used the output from GloSS to filter the network. The filtered network contains most of the relevant T cell functional components and was designated TPPIN. This was confirmed by the overrepresentation analysis conducted with GO terms and essential genes.
Many important components of the TCR-dependent signaling pathways are present in the TPPIN. Except for CD3γ and CD3δ, other components of the TCR complex which are included in the microarrays used in this study, are present (TCR-α and -β are not present in the microarrays). The co-receptors CD4 and CD8 are both present, as well as, all the proteins that make up the immunological synapse. With the exception of LAT, GADS and ITK, most proteins that are central in the immediate TCR receptor-associated intracellular signaling after the formation of the immunological synapse and TCR activation are present in the TPPIN, including LCK, FYN, CD45, ZAP70, SLP-76 and PLC-γ.
After its activation, PLC-γ cleaves PIP2 into the second messenger IP3 and DAG [31, 32]. This event sets off the activation of three important signaling pathways in T cells that end up with transcriptional activation of NFAT, NF-κB and AP-1 [30]. DAG activates PKC-θ, which in turn activates NF-κB [33]. IP3 activates CaN through the calcium signaling, and CaN subsequently activates NFAT [34]. DAG activates RasGRP [35, 36], which in turn initiates the activation of the MAP kinase cascade [37], culminating in the activation of FOS [38]. Key proteins in the NF-κB pathway including PKC-θ, IKK-β and IκB [39] are present in the TPPIN. With the exception of RasGRP, MEK1/2 and ELK co-complexes, the other vital proteins in the MAP kinase signaling cascade [40] and the JAK-STAT pathway [41] are captured by the TPPIN. These results show how the TPPIN represents relevant T cell-related parts of the immunome interactome.
During the filtering step the central networks connecting the TCR complex to the NF-κB and NFAT signaling pathways were kept intact. Although the NFAT and NF-κB pathways are present in many different cell-types, they are central for T cell survival and functions. The connectivity of these components was used to determine the end point for the filtering process. The filtering was continued until there was a minimum number of links, i.e., one, between the TCR, and NF-κB and NFAT components.
GO term enrichment analysis confirms that several of the TPPIN proteins have important T cell functions. As an example of biological process term enrichment, the positive regulation of lymphocyte activation pathway (GO:0051251), regulation of immune response (GO:0050776), and intracellular protein kinase cascade (GO:0007243) terms are significantly enriched. To further probe the similarity between the immunome interactome and the TPPIN proteins we calculated their semantic similarity with respect to biological process and molecular function GO terms. The networks were semantically very similar in both types of GO terms. Because essential genes are indispensable for the survival of a cell, their enrichment in the cellular network would indicate that the network is crucial to the cell. Thus, we investigated the enrichment of essential genes in the TPPIN. The analysis showed a highly significant enrichment of essential genes in the TPPIN. These independent lines of evidence support the applicability of the network filtering routine.
Due to the scarcity of time course microarray experiments with uniform design, gene expression datasets with different designs were used. Integrated analysis was carried out to identify and exclude biased datasets [42, 43]. The normalization and batch effect analysis steps served to considerably minimize the effect of bias for correlation calculation from the experimental studies.
Global and aggregate cellular interactions are more plausible between proteins encoded by co-expressed genes than between gene products whose expression patterns are uncorrelated [14]. Since we investigated the global and aggregated characteristics of the immune response in T cells by integrating gene expression experiments conducted for T cell lines, the correlation coefficients represent the aggregate strength of the T cell-specific relationship between the genes and their interacting protein products [14, 44].
To explore the changes in the network during the filtering process we investigated changes in the diameter, relative size of the largest component and the average size of the connected components of the network. These network measures have been shown to indicate the connectivity status of a network and its robustness against link removal or loss [28, 45]. The changes in network statistics during the filtering process showed that TPPIN maintains most of the integrity and connectivity of the immunome interactome.
Certain aspects of T cell function have been previously modeled [46–49]. Most of these studies are related to gene regulatory networks and modeling of small signaling networks involving transcription factors and their targets, selected to include genes or proteins well-known in the modeled system. In these studies, the typical number of genes or proteins is in a few tens, whereas we started with the entire immunome interactome of 1149 proteins and 5164 links, and ended up with a core network that contains 288 proteins and 227 links. The number of nodes and links in the TPPIN makes it amenable to tailored cellular systems modeling and experimental studies. Our approach is unsupervised and does not utilize any preconceptions, yet, it reveals the central proteins and their networks.
The filtering process carried out in this study has some potential limitations. It needs several time course expression datasets for the cell-type or tissue of interest and each experiment should consist of at least 3 samples. A set of proteins is needed to track the connectivity of the vital pathways and a stop criterion when key pathways are broken. However, these limitations are not of great practical importance in the present era of high throughput studies.
The reported filtering routine can capture the core cell-type-specific PPI network for any cell-type from time series gene expression datasets, and is not limited to well-known systems. The approach opens ways for modeling protein interaction networks of cellular systems, even when pathways are not previously well characterized.
Protein-protein interaction network reconstruction
Human immunome proteins were obtained from the IKB [15] and supplemented with key immune system pathways from the KEGG pathways database [16].
Experimentally verified and consolidated PPI data for the human immunome proteins was retrieved from the iRefIndex database version 9.0 [17]. First, the ppiTrim version 1.2.1 [18] was used to filter the iRefIndex dataset. This algorithm maps protein interactants to NCBI gene identifiers and removes undesired raw interactions, deflates potentially expanded complexes, and reconciles annotation labels from the different PPI databases. Second, non-experimentally verified, non-human, complex and self-self PPIs were omitted. Third, we collapsed multiple binary PPIs whose interactants are products of the same genes. Finally, we eliminated PPIs for which both interactants were not immunome proteins (Figure 1). The igraph library [50] in the R statistical programming environment [51] was used to reconstruct and analyze the PPI network. Visualizations were done using Cytoscape version 2.8 [52].
Gene expression data
We retrieved microarray time course datasets for human T cell-lines from GEO [19] and ArrayExpress [20] databases. Each experiment had to contain at least three samples and at least one for time zero for baseline data. GEO datasets that consisted of samples from multiple platforms were split into multiple experiments, so that each experiment consisted of samples for the same microarray platform. To reduce bias during gene expression integration across experiments we included only experiments performed on Affymetrix whole transcript array platform U133A, U133A 2.0, U133B, U133 plus 2.0 and U95A arrays.
Pre-processing of gene expression data
R and Bioconductor libraries were used for data pre-processing [51, 53]. The raw data for each gene expression dataset was retrieved. Pre-processing consisted of quality control using boxplots, arrayPLM and simpleaffy routines. For each experiment, samples were normalized using default parameters of the Robust Multi-Array algorithm [54] implemented in the affy library [55]. To convert probe sets to gene expressions, we used the mean of the probe sets to represent the corresponding gene's expression using the platform-dependent libraries in the Bioconductor project [56]. Gene expressions for non-protein coding genes in the immunome protein dataset were removed.
The gene expression datasets were merged and batch effects were analyzed. We also performed PCA analysis before and after batch effect analysis to examine its effect and performance on the normalized datasets. The batch effects and PCA analysis were performed using the ComBat [43] and plotMDS algorithms implemented in the inSilicoMerging library [42] in Bioconductor.
Gene expression correlation
The mean of the jackknife Pearson correlation coefficient of the merged and pre-processed expression values for all gene pair combinations was calculated using the bootstrap library implemented in R. These correlation values were converted to absolute values and used as link weights for the immunome interactome.
Protein network filtering
We reconstructed the immunome PPI network as a weighted and undirected graph using the igraph package in R. The nodes, links, and link weights of the graph represent, respectively, the immunome protein coding genes, the PPIs and the average jackknife gene expression correlation between the immunome protein coding genes.
Network filtering was achieved with the GloSS algorithm [13], which identifies the relevant backbone of a weighted graph while retaining its weight distribution and structure. It uses a global null model to calculate the significance of the links by maintaining the topology of the network while assigning link weights randomly, from the observed weight distribution. The link weights (jackknife correlation coefficients) were multiplied by 100 to allow the p-values to be computed by GloSS. The computed link p-values by GloSS were used to filter the network by removing links in decreasing order of p-value. We monitored the filtering process to make sure that at least a path or connectivity remained between the TCR complex and NF-κB signaling pathways. The steps below represent the filtering procedure:
Step 1: Using GloSS, determine p-value for each edge of the network
Step 2: Select the link with the largest p-value
Step 3: Remove the link from the network
Step 4: Check for presence of connectivity between the NF-κB components and the TCR complex
Step 4.1: If connectivity exists discard the link and go to step 2.
Step 4.2: If connectivity does not exist, return the link to the network and stop.
represents the fraction of the filtered nodes. The igraph package was used to calculate the network scores [50].
Robustness of the T cell PPI network
Link weight-randomized networks were created by randomizing the weights of a fraction of links, keeping the topology unchanged. The following fractions of links were used to create each of the link weight-randomized networks: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8 and 0.9. Thirty iterations were performed on each link weight-randomized network. For each iteration, a fraction of links were randomly selected, their weights randomly reassigned, the filtering procedure performed and network topology statistics calculated. Node degree, average path length, betweenness centrality of both the nodes and the links, clustering coefficient of the network, and the intersection between the TPPIN network and the link weight-randomized networks, were calculated. After the iterations for each link weight-randomized network, the average of each of the network topology statistics was retained.
Gene Ontology term enrichment, over-representation and semantic similarity analysis
The interconnected proteins in the TPPIN were subjected to GO [57] term enrichment analysis. The GO terms for the proteins in the immunome interactome were used as the background. Fisher's exact test of the hypergeometric distribution was calculated and correction for multiple comparisons was performed using the Benjamini-Hochberg procedure [58]. The enrichment analysis was performed with Webgestalt [59]. Semantic similarity between the immunome interactome and the TPPIN was calculated using the clusterSim routine of the GOSemSim library [60] (version 1.18.0) available in R/Bioconductor.
Analysis of essential genes
We retrieved the human orthologs of the mouse lethality genes from the Mouse Genome Informatics database [29]. A gene was included in the set of lethality genes with the following criteria: phenotype contains the word "lethality", the type of lethality annotation contains neither "partial" nor "wean". After removing non-immunome genes and those without the above-mentioned lethality annotations, we calculated the hypergeometric distribution and Fisher's exact test for significance. Essential genes were retrieved using the biomaRt package in R [61] and visualization of the TPPIN with essential genes was done using Cytoscape 2.8.3.
Pathway gene mapping
The TPPIN genes were mapped to the KEGG pathways using the KEGG pathway mapper tool [16].
We thank Marko Pesu for valuable discussions.
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This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.


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Musical Instruments
Roland KC-500 Keyboard Amplifier
$350 (reduced) by Okies335 in Uruma city, 3 days ago
For sale is a Roland Keyboard Amplifier. 4 stereo channel inputs. This is the biggest in this model. Players condition. No problem in sound. It is also excellent for acoustic guitar and Electric drums.Good sound at low and high volumes. This is a fair price. Serious inquiries only please.
Posted in: Musical Instruments. 4 people are following this item.
Find out how close you are to this item!


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SV University
M.A. (ENGLISH), IV SEM, APRIL, 2011 Exam Results
The University has 58 departments, wherein 71 different PG courses and several Diploma and Certificate courses are being run with a total academic faculty strength of 400 and 1500 non-teaching and a student strength of 5000, including research scholars.
Results here:
Tags: SVU SV University MA English 4th semester exam result SVU SV University MA English Fourth Semester Exam Result SEM April details information website link url


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Mixed in the flour of happiness,
folded in some romance,
sifted with a pinch of peace,
and an essence of hope.
Added with some ecstasy,
and sweetness of seduction,
into a dough of fantasy,
baked in the oven of lust.
With an icing of proposal,
and a dusting of wishes,
a thick layer of trust,
and detailing of kisses.
I have baked a cake of happily ever after,
Let's share a piece of Love cake.


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We're here!
We arrived in New York on Friday. The flight was uneventful, we found out that we would be in our apartment on Monday, I cancelled Sarah's EI appointment and rescheduled it for next week, but Sarah had a hard time sleeping that night (the time change, her ears probably hurt, the hotel room…you know, stuff.) and I ended up staying up with her literally all night, until Dec finally woke up, took pity on me, and let me sleep. Saturday we took it easy, figured out what kind of transit we needed to get to basic places (grocery store, Sarah's therapy, Dec's work, Sarah's pediatrician) from the apartment, and then went out for dinner. I spent all of late Saturday night/early Sunday morning/mid Sunday morning throwing up. I suspect food poisoning–Dec ate something different than I did at the restaurant and he hasn't shown any symptoms yet. I was functional enough on Monday to parent Sarah and sort of help with the moving proceedings, but we basically set up the couch, the bed, and that was it. Everything else we own is still in boxes. I'm just glad we decided to hire a company, because there's no way I would have been able to participate in the actual moving.
We won't have Internet or cable until next week, but we're using our phones for internet synced to our computers. Dec starts work on Thursday, and hopefully by the end of the week I'll have more of the apartment unpacked and we'll be getting used to life here. Right now it doesn't really feel like we live here, so hopefully that feeling will start to go away as life gets back to normal!


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Absolute last chance to declutter the shed, and earn some brownie points at home!
Franklin's Women on Water group is looking for donations of unwanted boating or fishing items to sell at our stall at the Kettering Maritime Market on 19 July 2014. For example old dinghies or canoes, unused fenders, redundant anchors, oars, fishing gear, flags, nautical pictures etc - anything vaguely maritime that you don't use any more. Leave in the box outside LBT or phone Barb 0408 212495 to arrange collection.
All profits go towards hosting and running the international St Ayles Skiff regatta at Franklin in February 2015.
About Us > Latest Pictures and News >


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Turnbo Home | Table of Contents | Keyword Search| Bibliography | Biography
By S. C. Turnbo
One of the old time citizens who lived in Cole County, Missouri, in the ante belum days was James Stevens and Mary Ann Stevens, his wife. Mr. Stevens died in Cole County and is buried in the Lucinda Amos graveyard 3 miles west of Russellville. After the death of Stevens his widow married Joe Bennette and they moved to Marion County, Arkansas, where they both died. Their mortal remains lie in the cemetery at Protem, Missouri. Among Mr. Stevens sons is Frank, who was born in Moniteau County, Missouri, February 21, 1855. Franks parents were living in Cole County when the war broke out and he was old enough to remember money of the incident of war times that come under his observations or near where he was. "One day," said he, "while the Civil War was going on my two sisters, Rhoda and Clara, and my brother, Bill, while in company with Miss Sarah Shackles and Enoch Shackles and Minus Farris and Sam Amos went to the South Moreau River 6 miles south of High Point to pass off time. After the party had stood at the edge of the water for some time which was at the ford of the river they left the waters edge and followed the road up the bank where on top of it they met a bunch of robbers unexpectly. Farris and Amos were grown. The other two boys were small. Minus Farris was in front and they made him pull off his boots, hat and give up his pocket book. Then they compelled Amos to do the same as they had made Farris do. When they opened the pocket books they found several small shin plasters such as 10, 15, 20 and 25 cent bills, which they tore into small bits and threw the scraps down into the road. The robbers did not dismount from their horses and just before they took their departure they made the two young men come close up to them and two of the bandits pulled off their old slouched hats and put them on the young fellows heads and put their hats on and rode off. The robbers did not molest none of the other party. On the following day a number of people visited the spot where the boys had been robbed the day previous and picked up a number of pieces of the torn up money."
Turnbo Home | Table of Contents | Keyword Search| Bibliography | Biography
Springfield-Greene County Library


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A chat with Emily, one of the Creators of Love Soap Ltd May 23 2015
Its been a while but we wanted to go to back to our series 'Behind the Brand' in which the companies that design and make the fabulous products sold at www.desmondelephant.com explain what they do, how and why. Today we share our catch-up with Love Soap Ltd and one of its' inspiring founders Emily.
How and why did you start Love Soap Ltd?
We started the business for a number of reasons really. After having children we wanted to be able to work more flexibly and so working for ourselves seemed the best way to do this. Having tried out a number of other bath products with our own babies we identified a gap for a product that could combine both natural and organic ingredients with good performance. Charlotte already works alongside her husband in his soap making business and so had the knowledge and supplier contacts to get us started…
How does Love Soap differ from other children's bath products?
We are one of very few children's brands to be certified organic by the UK Soil Association. This means all of our products, the ingredients we use and the process in which we make them have been thoroughly inspected and adhere to strict certification criteria. We are also proud of the packaging we have created for our products which includes hand drawn illustrations and have more of a fun design element to them also.
Why haven't you used Parabens in Love Soap products?
Parabens are preservatives used widely in the cosmetics industry. These chemicals have been linked to cancer and are potentially harmful to health. That said, it is important to use preservatives particularly in water based products such as shampoo and body wash otherwise these develop fungi and bacteria which are also harmful to health. We absolutely do not use Parabens in our products and only use minimum amounts of preservative (less than 1%) to ensure our products remain safe to use for 24mths after opening. These are mostly naturally derived and have been approved for use in organic beauty products certified by the Soil Association.
What are you hope for the future of Love Soap?
To continue to grow the business in a way that remains manageable for us. We are already building a loyal base of customers that come back regularly to stock up on their children's bath products and that's a great feeling.
How to you balance being a mother and creating a successful brand?
It's a constant battle but being quite realistic and honest about what can be achieved in a set amount of time and setting boundaries so only being available for work tasks during specific times. I often reply to emails in the evening once my daughter is asleep in bed and generally get immediate responses often from other mothers also running their own businesses. I feel lucky that I have the opportunity to manage work that way.
What to you hope to achieve in the future?
To continue to be part of the organic beauty movement helping to raise awareness of the benefits of choosing organic and natural skincare. We also hope to extend our range of children's skin care products and introduce a range for mothers too.
Based on your knowledge you have any beauty products you would recommend for mothers?
We love Pai Rosehip Bioregenerate Oil – magic stuff for any sleep deprived Mum!
Thank you so much Emily, we are massive fans of what you do at Love Soap and can't wait for the mama range. To see the full Love Soap collection Click here


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The Ghosts of Portables Past returns from the Great Beyond for the Fourth Annual Halloween Event! Every year the Ghosts of Portables Past Event partners with a modding community to haunt their user-base and their shelved/defunct projects. This year we gather the spirits and bring our vex to the members of the BitBuilt Modding Community!
Have a project that you would like to finish, but are wondering about eligibility? Tread carefully as we delve deeper into the haunted night.
The 4th Annual Ghosts of Portables Past Event is a community event structured around finishing old projects and portables that have been neglected for too long. As the outside turns bleak and dreary, what better time to bring a project back into the land of the living. Not necessarily a contest and more of a community wide
spring cleaning pre-hiberation ritual, there is potential monetary gain other than uncursing your workbench. Consult your local Necronomicon for these required ingredients:
If you finish your project, a special Bitbuilt Featured Article will be posted on the front page, a random game and/or item for the portable you completed will be sent to you (International competitors may need to help in the cost of shipping depending on the location), and a special Ghosts of Portables Past Badge will be given to you on the Bitbuilt forums.
Beware the Ghosts of Portables Past.


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Good Farm Fund
The Good Farm Fund is a community organization founded in 2015 with the goal of providing direct support to small farmers in Mendocino and Lake Counties and increasing local food security for all members of our community.
In its first year, the Good Farm Fund awarded a total of $7,000 to nine local farms in the first set of Farm Grants. It also raised an additional $10,000 to put toward the 2016 Farm Grants and more than $11,000 in Food Stamp Matching funds.
To learn more, visit the Good Farm Fund's website.
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