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a library designed only for structure?

 
 
Reply Sun 9 Jan, 2011 05:09 am
Do you think what does "a library designed only for structure" mean here?

Context:

Added Kara McKinley, also a co-author and a 2010 Princeton graduate who is now a Ph.D. student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology: "This is an exciting result, because it shows that unnatural proteins can sustain a natural system, and that such proteins can be found at relatively high frequency in a library designed only for structure."
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Type: Question • Score: 1 • Views: 1,473 • Replies: 18
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McTag
 
  1  
Reply Sun 9 Jan, 2011 07:12 am
@oristarA,

It's not clear to the non- specialist. It is jargon.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Mon 10 Jan, 2011 02:22 am
@McTag,
McTag wrote:


It's not clear to the non- specialist. It is jargon.


Good.

Let's wait for specialists to come. Very Happy
0 Replies
 
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Mon 10 Jan, 2011 04:17 am
@McTag,

It is also rather stupid to use the word "library" in a context like this.
Surely the writer could have found a better way to express herself.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Mon 10 Jan, 2011 04:59 am
@McTag,
McTag wrote:


It is also rather stupid to use the word "library" in a context like this.
Surely the writer could have found a better way to express herself.


How about "database"?
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Mon 10 Jan, 2011 10:32 am
@oristarA,
No, it appears to be describing things at a molecular level.
Any attempts by me to answer this contain too many questions.
Unnatural proteins means artificially-created ones?
Library means selection or group or population?
And how would such a group be considered to be "designed"?

As I say, more questions than answers.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jan, 2011 08:21 am
@McTag,
McTag wrote:

No, it appears to be describing things at a molecular level.
Any attempts by me to answer this contain too many questions.
Unnatural proteins means artificially-created ones?
Library means selection or group or population?
And how would such a group be considered to be "designed"?

As I say, more questions than answers.


Wink I believe scientists have created a library (or database) about artificial proteins made according to their stucture. JPB certainly knows this.
0 Replies
 
engineer
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jan, 2011 08:39 am
@oristarA,
I was waiting for someone with actual experience to show up, but since you are still waiting, I will take a shot. I read "library" in this sentence to be similar to what computer programmers call a library - a series of software tools for performing certain tasks. I would replace library with toolbox. I think this is saying that we have identified many proteins with very specific purposes and unnatural proteins can fit in this group. (I could be completely wrong here, so take it with that caveat.)
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jan, 2011 09:25 am
@engineer,
Thanks.

Of course we both are still waiting. Smile
0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jan, 2011 02:05 pm
@oristarA,
Do you think what does "a library designed only for structure" mean here?

What do you think [what does] "a library designed only for structure" means here?

===================

More material from before and after the quoted portion would likely help a great deal, Ori.

0 Replies
 
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jan, 2011 02:12 pm
@McTag,
If, as you say, it's jargon, meant for specialists, why would the writer need to search for a better way to express herself.

You, McTag, [and certainly others] can be flummoxed by writings on language, others confused by engineers' descriptions. The hardest thing about university is getting up to speed on the voluminous "new" vocabulary that exists for every discipline.

This pattern of trying to blame the writer is really lame. There simply are concepts that are beyond each of us, at least until we get up to speed with the lingo.
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jan, 2011 02:59 pm
@oristarA,
it would help to provide links to source documents

http://timehuman.blogspot.com/2011/01/princeton-scientists-construct.html

http://www.genengnews.com/gen-news-highlights/synthetic-proteins-that-sustain-life-created/81244490/

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S29/43/27E55/index.xml?section=topstories
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jan, 2011 03:18 pm
@ehBeth,
That can also cause a tainting of the responses, Beth. If I wanted native speakers' take on a certain language structure or word choice, I wouldn't necessarily want them to be buffaloed by telling them the source.
McTag
 
  1  
Reply Tue 11 Jan, 2011 05:08 pm
@JTT,
Quote:
You, McTag, [and certainly others] can be flummoxed by writings on language


Oh really? Why, if you were within reach I would stick my quill pen right up your nose.
A point I am fond of making is the sickening propensity of self-important and self-aggrandising so-called "specialists" to invent unnecessary neologisms which do the opposite of shedding light or understanding on the point they seem to wish to make.
Language, if you like, designed to be obscure rather than to illuminate.
JTT
 
  0  
Reply Tue 11 Jan, 2011 05:15 pm
@McTag,
That "point" might have a little more validity had it not been trotted out by every silly prescriptivist since Bishop Lowth.

See what not trashing that Fowlers has done to you.
0 Replies
 
talk72000
 
  2  
Reply Tue 11 Jan, 2011 05:19 pm
@oristarA,
Techies are not the best writers and abuse the English language. The Techies create their own language like Klingonese from Star Trek. They use anything that is handy to describe something.
oristarA
 
  1  
Reply Wed 12 Jan, 2011 02:07 am
@talk72000,
Yeah, I agree.
0 Replies
 
ehBeth
 
  1  
Reply Wed 12 Jan, 2011 12:17 pm
@JTT,
A request for context is often more than a request for the sentence a fragment or idiom was pulled from.

Scientists are not necessarily good writers or good speakers. A larger context - such as the original articles or speeches - might allow posters to help English language students.

You can call it tainting. I'll call it an opportunity to assist in providing a useful response.
JTT
 
  1  
Reply Wed 12 Jan, 2011 12:33 pm
@ehBeth,
I didn't say that a larger context is never a good idea.

I made my point and it is a valid one. Why? Because native speakers are not inherently good judges of how language works. We see this here all the time. They are often saddled with the dumbest of ideas from their schooling, and from what they have been told about language by adults.

Given your situation, you can't not be aware of this.
0 Replies
 
 

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