About These Networks
StemSight networks are probabalistic stem cell functional relevance networks specific to a single stem cell type and biological process context. This release of StemSight focuses on mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) in the context of self renewal and cell fate.
Glossary of Network Terms
- Network
- A network is a mathematical model that consists of a graph — the set of nodes and set of edges between nodes — and a function that maps the edge set to a set of real numbers.
- Weighted Network
- A network in which edges are assigned a numerical value that indicates the strength or confidence level of the link between two nodes. StemSight networks are fully connected, weighted networks that infer edge weights between all possible gene pairs in the training set.
- Degree
- How many edges or links a node has to other nodes. In a weighted network, the degree is equal to the sum of edge weights. Degree is also referred to as connectivity.
- Degree Distribution
- The probability that a selected node as exactly k links — a degree of k.
- Scale-Free Network
- A weighted network in which the degree distribution approximates a power law: P(k) ~ k^γ. The power law enables us to use one parameter (the degree exponent γ) to describe the degree distribution of millions of nodes.
- Clique
- A subnetwork in which all nodes are connected to each other.
- Clustering Coefficient
- The ratio of the number of actual connections between the neighbors of node I to the total number of possible connections. It is a quantification of how close the neighborhood of node I is to a clique.
