Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genetics of Low Polygenic Risk Score Type 1 Diabetes Patients: rare variants in 22 novel loci

With polygenic risk score (PRS) for autoimmune type 1 diabetes (T1D), this study identified T1D cases with low T1D PRS and searched for susceptibility loci in these cases. Our hypothesis is that genetic effects (likely mediated by relatively rare genetic variants) of non-mainstream (or non-autoimmune) T1D might have been diluted in the previous studies on T1D cases in general. Two cohorts for the PRS modeling and testing respectively were included. The first cohort consisted of 3,356 T1D cases and 6,203 controls, and the independent second cohort consisted of 3,355 T1D cases and 6,203 controls. Cases with low T1D PRS were identified using PRSice-2 and compared to controls with low T1D PRS by genome-wide association (GWA) test. Twenty-six genetic loci with SNPs/SNVs associated with low PRS T1D at genome-wide significance (P[≤]5.0xE-08) were identified, including 4 established T1D loci, as well as 22 novel loci represented by rare SNVs. For the 22 novel loci, 12 regions have been reported of association with obesity related traits by previous GWA studies. Five loci encoding long intergenic non-protein coding RNAs (lncRNA), two loci involved in N-linked glycosylation, two loci encoding GTPase activators, and two ciliopathy genes, are also highlighted in this study.
Evaluation of establishment methods and NPK levels in rice and their impact on succeeding crops

Field experiments were conducted during August, 1995 - April, 1996 for evaluating different sowing/planting methods of rice under two levels of NPK fertilizers to find out suitable crop for rice fallows. The results revealed that line planting along with higher fertilizer dose of 150:75:75 kg N, P2O5 and K2O ha−1 favourably increased the growth and yield components of rice. Crop nutrient uptake, grain and straw yield were also markedly influenced. In respect of rice fallow crops, different methods of sowing/planting adapted to rice did not exert any Influence on succeeding crop yield. Higher level of fertilizers had an impact on yield of all sequentiat crops raised in rice fallows. Among the sequential crops, soybean performed better than others. Blackgram was the next best. When treatments interactions were considered, high level of fertilizer applied to rice viz., 150:75:75 kg N, P2O5 and K2O ha−1 significantly enhanced yield of succeeding blackgram. Rice-soybean gave highest crop yield and the rice-blackgram system fetched highest return rupee−1 invested.
Herbivory constrains survival, reproduction and mutualisms when restoring nine temperate forest herbs

RUHREN, SCOTT AND STEVEN N. HANDEL (Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Natural Resources, and Center for Urban Restoration Ecology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 1 College Farm Road, New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1582). Herbivory constrains survival, reproduction and mutualisms when restoring nine deciduous forest herbs. J. Torrey Bot. Soc. 130:34-42. 2003. -Restoration of perennial herbs may be influenced by plant-animal interactions. For example, projects may be aided by native pollinators or seed dispersers or impeded by herbivores. Our previous work at Jockey Hollow, a U.S. National Park, indicated that abundance of native woodland herbs was low and herbivory by Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman (white-tailed deer) was intense. The goal of our experiment was to test the feasibility of herbaceous plant restoration in spite of a large 0. virginianus herd. By examining small-scale reintroductions of nine species of native herbaceous perennials (Asarum canadense L., Geranium maculatum L., Mitella diphylla L., Polemonium reptans L., Sanguinaria canadensis L., Smilacina racemosa (L.) Desf. , Tiarella cordifolia L. , Uvularia grandiflora J.E. Smith and Viola spp. ) we determined which plants survived and reproduced. After 3 years, 46% of plants survived and 5% flowered inside exclosures, while 23% of plants planted outside survived; no plants surviving outside exclosures flowered. Within deer exclosures, native bees visited five species and ants dispersed Sanguinaria seeds in experimental depots. However pollination and seed dispersal occurs only with protection from 0. virginianus. Overabundant 0. virginianus and the relatively long generation time of perennial herbs may prevent restoration of similar plant communities at this time.
Effect of cycocel on growth, flowering and yield of nerium (Nerium odorum L.)

An experiment was carried out to study the effect of CCC on growth, flowering and yield of Nerium odorum cv. Rose Single at the farmer’s field in Keelaiyur village, Tharangambadi taluk, Nagapattinum district, Tamil Nadu. The treatments were comprised of different concentration of cycocel @ 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 ppm and control was maintained by spraying with distilled water. The experiment was laidout in randomized block design with four replications. The results revealed that among the different concentration of cycocel used, higher concentration of CCC @ 2500 ppm-T5 recorded the maximum reduction in plant height, leaf area, early flowering and maximum duration of flowering. However, the treatment T4- CCC 2000 ppm recorded the increased number of primary branches per plant, secondary branches per plant, number of leaves per plant, plant spread, flower diameter, hundred flower weight, number of flowers per plant, flower yield per plant and flower yield per plot.
Neogene History of Anniella Gray, 1852 (Squamata, Anniellidae) with Comments on Postcranial Osteology

California, from approximately the San Francisco Bay south into Baja California, Mexico, and a few coastal Pacific islands. The oldest known fossil specimens of Anniella were recovered from late Miocene sediments in the San Francisco Bay area. We report 18 new Pliocene and Pleistocene fossil localities for Anniella, all from within the modern geographic distribution of the genus. Morphological variation in the vertebral column permits diagnosis of 10 distinct regions or individual vertebrae, and many of these are now known from the fossil record. Previous studies have shown that soil moisture, ground temperature, soil texture and vegetation cover play an important role in limiting the distribution of the genus today. If these same parameters were operating in the past, the presence of Anniella in fossil deposits may provide some indication of local paleoenvironmental conditions. Despite analyses of both morphological and molecular characters, the precise phylogenetic position of Anniella remains unresolved.
THREE METHODS OF GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF CHEMICAL ANALYSES OF IGNEOUS ROCKS

Abstract The three methods discussed in the present paper are: (i) a linear variation diagram obtained by plotting oxide percentages against the ratio FeO+Fe2O3/MgO + FeO + Fe2O3 × 100; (ii) a triangular diagram with co-ordinates MgO, FeO, and (Na2O + K2O); and (iii) a modified von Wolff diagram, using weight percentages instead of molecular percentages. Analyses of the Karroo and the Bushveld igneous provinces are used as examples, and the implications of the variations shown are discussed.
Value co-creation through multiple shopping channels: The interconnections with social exclusion and wellbeing

This study examines consumers’ value co-creation via several shopping channels including a traditional out-of-home shopping channel and “smart” channels where consumers use a computer, a mobile phone or social media. It focuses on the effect that value co-creation has on consumers’ shopping behaviour as well as on the perceived contribution of a shopping channel to their wellbeing, with a focus on individuals who perceive themselves as being socially excluded, particularly by mobility disability. The project was carried out in the USA using an online survey (n=1220). Social exclusion has a positive statistically significant effect on respondents’ self-connection with all channels; for many socially excluded respondents the shopping channel has an important role in their lives. Self-connection with the channel has a positive effect on value co-creation and there is a positive relationship between value co-creation and the perceived contribution of the channel on wellbeing. When consumers help other individuals in their decision making they not only create value for the retailer and for other customers but also contribute positively to their own wellbeing. Importantly, for smart shopping channels where consumers use a computer or a mobile phone, the impact of value co-creation on the perceived contribution of these channels to consumer wellbeing are stronger for shoppers with a mobility disability than for those without such a disability.
THE STRUCTURE AND DETERMINANTS OF TRUST: THE CASES OF JAPAN AND SWEDEN K6OJ=>GD AG6>

The structure and determinants of trust are analyzed using questionnaire data from a sample of Japanese and Swedish university students. A salient characteristic of this analysis is that it considers various dimensions of trust. There are similarities and di#erences between the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research to Kazuhiro Arai is gratefully acknowledged. Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics 46 (2005), pp.183-204. Hitotsubashi University
Purification and Some Properties of aThermostable Glucose-Producing Î±-Amylase from Bacillus sp. Cos

Thermophilic microorganisms are known for their high temperature requirement. One outstanding attribute of these organisms is the production of thermostable enzymes, and because of this feature, enzymes produced by thermophiles have found a number of commercial and research applications. Thus there is a continuous search for thermophilic micro-organisms capable of producing thermostable enzymes with novel characteristics. In the present study, a thermostable α-amylase-producing bacterial strain was isolated from soil. The isolate was phenotypically identified as Bacillus sp. Cos by adopting standard methods and was used in the production of amylase in sub-merged shake flask culture. The enzyme was purified 8-fold by cold acetone (-10OC) precipitation, ion-exchange chromatography on DEAE -Sephadex (A-50) and on Bio-gel P-4 gel filtration column. The homogeneity and molecular weight was estimated to be 38.02KDa by SDS-PAGE. The enzyme was optimally active at 70OC and pH7.0. It was not activated by any of the tested metal ions but was strongly inhibited by Hg2+. The enzyme hydrolyzed some tested polysaccharides producing only glucose. The Km values (mg/ml) for glycogen, starch, amylopectin, pullulan and amylose were 0.71, 0.83, 0.83, 1.67 and 10.0, respectively. The production of only glucose from various polysaccharides by Bacillus sp. Cos thermostable α-amylase, its optimum pH and temperature of activity at 7.0 and 70OC, coupled with its independence on metal ions for activation and stabilization suggests its applicability in starch saccharification for industrial production of glucose and fructose syrups.
Effect of Deep Seawater on Sake Yeast

Deep Sea Water (DSW) can be pumped up from a depth of 200 meters at Muroto in Kochi. Since DSW is known to be unspoiled by pollution and contain various minerals, it is used for a variety of fermented foods. To investigate the effects of DSW on sake production, we carried out small-scale (1 2L) fermentation tests. As a consequence, the addition of DSW led to elevated levels of aroma components, including isoamyl acetate, ethyl caproate and ethyl caprylate. To elucidate further the mechanism underlying this phenomenon, we used cDNA microarray for studying yeast gene expression during fermentation. As a result, the addition of DSW substantially increased the transcript levels of several genes known to be involved in higher alcohol and fatty acid biosynthesis. It is therefore suggested that the rise in transcription of these genes caused the increased aroma production. Sensory evaluation revealed that the addition of DSW to fermentation resulted in a significantly superior flavor profile of final products compared with the addition of NaCl, a major component in seawater. Interestingly, the microarray analysis demonstrated that the addition of NaCl by itself induced stress during fermentation as indicated by mRNA levels in sake yeast. The addition of DSW appeared to ameliorate the negative effect induced by NaCl. Taken together, these results indicate that addition of DSW to the fermentation processes provides unique advantages for sake production.
Diversity of Aquatic Molluscs in a Heterogenous Section of a Medium-Sized Lowland River-Floodplain System: An Example of Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis

ABSTRACT Natural river-floodplain systems are heterogenous mosaics of lotic and lentic habitats subjected to dynamic temporal changes connected with hydrological regime, which promote high biological diversity. Mollusc assemblages of three habitat types within 10 km section of the lower course of the Liwiec River (East Poland) — the main river channel (MC), the secondary channel (SC) and remnants of the former river channel (FC), were compared to find if they were structured by heterogeneity resulting from hydrological connectivity and disturbance intensity related to it. The influence of selected qualitative environmental variables was also analysed. The investigations were carried out at 19 sites during late spring and late summer in the years 2012–2014, molluscs were sampled from approximately 1 m2 of the bottom with a hand net, and from macrophytes with a frame. Rich aquatic malacofauna (36 species including 22 gastropods and 14 bivalves) was found within the study area including three species of special interest: Anisus vorticulus (Troschel), Unio crassus Phillipsson and Anodonta cygnea (L.). Bivalves Sphaerium corneum (L.) and Pisidium spp dominated within MC, in SC a few common and ubiquitous species (mainly snails) prevailed, pulmonate snails and some small bivalves of the genus Pisidium were the most numerous molluscs within FC. Principal Component Analysis revealed that current velocity, channel width, bottom sediments and macrophyte abundance were important environmental factors structuring mollusc assemblages. Considerable variation in species composition (β diversity), especially between the main river channel and two other habitat types (β2) was found. The highest values of mean species richness, Shannon true diversity and Shannon index found in the secondary channel were in accordance with intermediate disturbance hypothesis.
Testing depth-related multivariate patterns of macrofauna on the Indian continental shelf using reduced taxonomic resolution and data transformation

Although taxonomic sufficiency (TS) was developed for rapid environmental assessments, it has recently been adopted to study the spatial patterns of macrobenthos in relation to natural environmental gradients. To accept TS as a routine approach in wider benthic studies, it needs to be valid for various taxa and geographically different water masses. This study examined the effects of taxonomic resolution on depth-related multivariate patterns of macrobenthic polychaetes on the western Indian continental shelf. An extensive data set based on samples collected from a wide geographical area (7°–22°N latitudes) covering a large depth gradient (30–200 m) has been analysed. Species level polychaete community data had shown a significant variation between shallow and deeper waters. Our results indicated that generic and family level data also can detect community shifts along a depth gradient in a similar way to species level data. The entire western continental margin (200 m depth) is lying in the oxygen minimum zone (dissolved oxygen <0.5 ml l−1). This study indicated that family level results were sufficient to document the correlations of low oxygen on macrobenthic polychaetes. This study also tested the effects of transformations on depth-related patterns of polychaetes. In multivariate analyses, transformations play a role in defining the balance between contributions from common and rare species in the measure of similarity of two samples. Our results showed that the type of transformations did not make any prominent differences in the multivariate analyses.
Age and Growth in Sea Turtles: Limitations of Skeletochronology for Demographic Studies

Demographic models and management plans for sea turtle populations have been limited by our inability to determine the age of individuals. Skeletochronology-the use of incremental growth marks to estimate age-has been used in several studies to assign ages to sea turtles based on growth marks in the humerus. These growth marks also can be used to estimate body size at earlier ages (back-calculations of lengths-at-age). We test two critical assumptions upon which these techniques are based: (1) growth marks in the humeri of sea turtles are laid down annually; and (2) there is a constant proportional allometry between radial growth of the humerus and longitudinal growth of the carapace. As a result of our study of a tropical population of juvenile green turtles (Chelonia mydas), both assumptions were rejected. With tetracycline as a skeletal marker, no growth marks were visible in biopsies from the humeri of 25 green turtles after periods of either 1.3 or 2.4 years. The proportion of humeral radial growth to carapace length growth was not constant but was significantly correlated with carapace length. Skeletochronology in sea turtles has additional limitations resulting from remodeling of the humerus (endocortical, periosteal, and intracortical) during growth that may destroy growth marks, accumulation of noncyclic growth marks, and uninterpretable patterns of growth marks. These violations of assumptions and limitations dictate that skeletochronology should only be applied to sea turtle populations or life stages for which the assumptions have been validated. Our results underscore the importance of testing the assumptions upon which skeletochronology and back-calculations of lengths-atage are based. These techniques have been applied widely to vertebrate and invertebrate populations, often without validation.
Unbounded Hardware Transactional Memory for a Hybrid DRAM/NVM Memory System

Persistent memory programming requires failure atomicity. To achieve this in an efficient manner, recent proposals use hardware-based logging for atomic-durable updates and hardware transactional memory (HTM) for isolation. Although the unbounded HTMs are promising for both performance and programmability reasons, none of the previous studies satisfies the practical requirements. They either require unrealistic hard-ware overheads or do not allow transactions to exceed on-chip cache boundaries. Furthermore, it has never been possible to use both DRAM and NVM in HTM, though it is becoming a popular persistency modelTo this end, this study proposes UHTM, unbounded hardware transactional memory for DRAM and NVM hybrid memory systems. UHTM combines the cache coherence protocol and address-signatures to detect conflicts in the entire memory space. This approach improves concurrency by significantly reducing the false-positive rates of previous studies. More importantly, UHTM allows both DRAM and NVM data to interact with each other in transactions without compromising the consistency guarantee. This is rendered possible by UHTM’s hybrid version management that provides an undo-based log for DRAM and a redo-based log for NVM. The experimental results show that UHTM outperforms the state-of-the-art durable HTM, which is LLC-bounded, by 56% on average and up to 818%.
An Empirical Analysis on Customers’ Acceptance of Islamic Micro Finance in Kano State, North Western-Nigeria: The Moderating Effect of Awareness

Accepted 21.08. 2020 Abstract Purpose: The objective of this research paper is to conceptualize the model in examining the moderating effect of awareness on attitude, knowledge, and customers’ acceptance of Islamic micro finance in Kano State, North Western-Nigeria. As, Islamic micro financial institutions deliver loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Since, it serves as a means of curving of some social vices such as poverty, ethno-religious crises, farmers and herdsmen crises, cattle rustling, arm rubbers and kidnappers among others. Despite it great contributions to the growth of the economy there is deprived awareness on Islamic micro finance which leads to inadequate investment and patronage by the people in Kano State. Investors and the general public can use this research for guidance towards investments of their capital into Islamic micro finance for maximum profits. Also, stake holders, SMEs, traders and farmers can utilize the outcome of this study. Similarly, stock exchange commission, Central Bank of Nigeria and other financial institutions can use the results of this study towards making policies and strategies.
Detection of Multiple Structural Breaks in Large Covariance Matrices

ABSTRACT This article studies multiple structural breaks in large contemporaneous covariance matrices of high-dimensional time series satisfying an approximate factor model. The breaks in the second-order moment structure of the common components are due to sudden changes in either factor loadings or covariance of latent factors, requiring appropriate transformation of the factor models to facilitate estimation of the (transformed) common factors and factor loadings via the classical principal component analysis. With the estimated factors and idiosyncratic errors, an easy-to-implement CUSUM-based detection technique is introduced to consistently estimate the location and number of breaks and correctly identify whether they originate in the common or idiosyncratic error components. The algorithms of Wild Binary Segmentation for Covariance (WBS-Cov) and Wild Sparsified Binary Segmentation for Covariance (WSBS-Cov) are used to estimate breaks in the common and idiosyncratic error components, respectively. Under some technical conditions, the asymptotic properties of the proposed methodology are derived with near-optimal rates (up to a logarithmic factor) achieved for the estimated breaks. Monte Carlo simulation studies are conducted to examine the finite-sample performance of the developed method and its comparison with other existing approaches. We finally apply our method to study the contemporaneous covariance structure of daily returns of S&P 500 constituents and identify a few breaks including those occurring during the 2007–2008 financial crisis and the recent coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. An package “ ” is provided to implement the proposed algorithms.
Effect of intercropping on plant and soil of Dashehari mango orchard under low productive environments

An intercropping trial was conducted on 7-years old mango cv. DASHEHARI orchard planted at spacing of 7.0 m x 7.0 m spacing and growing under rainfed medium black clay loam of average fertility and well drained soil to identify the suitable and profitable intercrops. The intercrops were grown with different intercropping systems like mono, companion and sequential are pigeon pea, tomato, cluster bean, okra, black gram, soybean, cowpea, maize, mustard, coriander and bengal gram. The results of two years of investigation indicated that number of fruits was maximum in mango with companion intercropping system of pigeonpea + soybean followed by sequential intercropping system of cowpea -bengal gram did not differ significantly. Fruit length, fruit diameter and fruit weight was also highest with companion intercropping system of pigeon pea + soybean closely followed by sequential intercropping system of cowpea-bengal gram. Fruit quality of mango did not significantly differ among the intercrops treatment. Highest net return was calculated from mango + (pigeonpea + tomato) combination (Rs. 81077.50) followed by mango + cowpea-bengal gram (Rs. 71677.13) and mango + tomato (Rs. 67034.38). Nitrogen concentration in the orchard soil was improved due to growing of leguminous crops while phosphorus and potassium were depleted in all the cases.