Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Abundance of SSR Motifs and Development of Candidate Polymorphic SSR Markers (BARCSOYSSR_1.0) in Soybean

Simple sequence repeat (SSR) genetic markers, also referred to as microsatellites, function in map-based cloning and for marker-assisted selection in plant breeding. The objectives of this study were to determine the abundance of SSRs in the soybean genome and to develop and test soybean SSR markers to create a database of locus-specific markers with a high likelihood of polymorphism. A total of 210,990 SSRs with di-, tri-, and tetranucleotide repeats of five or more were identified in the soybean whole genome sequence (WGS) which included 61,458 SSRs consisting of repeat units of di-(≥10), tri- (>8), and tetranucleotide (>7). Among the 61,458 SSRs, (AT)n, (ATT)n and (AAAT)n were the most abundant motifs among di-, tri-, and tetranucleotide SSRs, respectively. After screening for a number of factors including locus-specificity using e-PCR, a soybean SSR database (BARCSOYSSR_1.0) with the genome position and primer sequences for 33,065 SSRs was created. To examine the likelihood that primers in the database would function to amplify locus-specific polymorphic products, 1034 primer sets were evaluated by amplifying DNAs of seven diverse Glycine max (L.) Merr. and one wild soybean (Glycine soja Siebold & Zucc.) genotypes. A total of 978 (94.6%) of the primer sets amplified a single polymerase chain reaction (PCR) product and 798 (77.2%) amplified polymorphic amplicons as determined by 4.5% agarose gel electrophoresis. The BARCSOYSSR1.0 SSR markers can be found in Soy-Base (http://soybase.org; verified 21 June 2010) the USDA-ARS Soybean Genome Database.
What Matters Most : Contract or Counterparty ? 2 . 1 The Contract View

How can Central Counterparty (CCP) clearing help to make the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market safer? To answer this question, we lay out two views of risk management. The “contract view” considers how to control the loss given default, while the “counterparty view” looks at the likelihood of a default first and, hence, at the incentives to take on risks. Applying the latter view to the market for OTC derivatives, we argue that the risk transfer that characterizes CCP clearing leads to incentives for individual risk-taking, as well as a collective failure of participants to take into account that the OTC derivatives market concentrates aggregate, system-wide risk. With central clearing this systemic risk externality worsens, as CCPs concentrate this risk further and become too-big-to-fail. To correct this problem, we propose the establishment of systemic risk insurance as a necessary component of CCP clearing in OTC derivatives markets. ∗A French version of this article has been published in the Revue d’Economie Financière.
Interactions of Bargaining Power and Introduction of Online Channel in Two Competing Supply Chains

This paper studies the effect of dual-channel format on supply chain’s competition ability and the effect of different bargaining powers on the competition between two supply chains and the optimal pricing decisions of all supply chain members when one supply chain introduces an online retailing channel. We develop four game models and obtain the optimal pricing decisions in closed form of these models and give some sensitivity analysis through numerical approach. Some new managerial insights are obtained as follows: Regardless of the two supply chain members’ bargaining forms, the optimal price, the maximal demand, and the maximal profit decrease as the self-price sensitivity decreases. The industry holds advantage in getting higher profit when the supply chain without online retailing channel is led by the retailer. In addition, we find that a manufacturer as a leader of its supply chain can get more profit when the competing supply chain’s leader is the manufacturer than when the competing supply chain’s leader is the retailer.
Ghana Airport Company Limitedâ€™s Decoupling Experience: Achievements, Challenges and Policy Lessons

Employee Commitment â€“ Investor in People Model Kazi Afaq Ahmed General Manager Administration and Legal Green Star Social Marketing, Pakistan & Prof. (Meritorious) Dr. Abuzar Wajidi Dean, Faculty of Management and Administrative Sciences University of Karachi Abstract: The performance of the organization is directly impacted by level of Employees Commitmentâ€. The â€œEmployee Commitmentâ€ â€“Investors in People (IIP) Model was selected as the reference sample for this study. The IIP model emerged in UK and is being successfully implemented in the western countries. Lot of prior research has been carried out across the world on IIP however no research work is done to test the validity of this model in developing countries like Pakistan. As per IIP, the employee commitment is dependent variable of four independent variables i.e employee contribution recognition, support people development, equality of opportunities and encourages performance improvement. This study was based on the hypothesis thatâ€ IIP said employee commitment variables are secondary and tertiary motivators and are not workable in Pakistan unless primary needs of the employees are fulfilledâ€. The research study conducted in group of sample organizations comprising of multinational and local private organizations has confirmed the above hypothesis. The research findings concludes that â€œFair and Equitable Compensation & Benefitsâ€, Decent Work Environment, and People Development are key elements for firing up Employee Commitmentâ€, in developing countries like Pakistan. The research findings and recommendations will help local entrepreneurs to improve productivity; quality of output and retaining highly motivated and charged workforce committed to improve organizational performance. Key words: Employee Commitment, Investors in People (IIP), Compensation & Benefit, Decent Work Environment, People Development, Organizational Performance Introduction Problem statement: The emerging cha
Impact of Intraoperative Anesthetic and Fluid Management on 30-day Postoperative Outcomes in a Newly Established Surgical Peritoneal Surface Malignancy Program

Background: Anesthetic and fluid management during cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) may influence 30-day postoperative outcomes. We investigated intraoperative management differences and their relation to outcomes in all consecutive patients undergoing HIPEC and CRS following the first 2 years after initiation of this surgical oncology program in a single center. Methods: Following IRB approval we retrospectively recorded demographics, intraoperative anesthetic and fluid management and 30-day postoperative cardiopulmonary, renal, infectious, neurologic, and surgical complications, mortality and length-of-stay in patients undergoing CRS and HIPEC. The Chi-square, Fisher’s exact and Wilcoxon two-sample tests were used for statistics. A p < 0.05 was significant. Results: We identified 34 patients with a mean age of 53.9 ± 11.5 years. Postoperative complications occurred in 14 patients (41%), twelve of whom (35%) had pulmonary adverse events. Patients with complications were significantly older (p=0.04) and were significantly longer hospitalized (p=0.00). Neither primary malignancy type nor intraoperative fluid replacement differed between groups. Patients with complications had mild preoperative anemia (p=0.052).
Effect of transportation at high ambient temperatures on physiological responses, carcass and meat quality characteristics in two age groups of omani sheep

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of short road transportation in an open truck during hot season on live weight shrink, physiological responses, and carcass and meat quality of Omani sheep at 6 and 12 months of age. Thirty-six male sheep, 18 of each age group, were used. Age groups were assigned randomly to transported and not-transported groups. The transported group was transported to the slaughterhouse the day of slaughter in an open truck covering a distance of approximately 100 km. The average temperature during transportation was 37°C. The not-transported group was kept in a lairage of a commercial slaughterhouse with ad libitum feed and water for 48 h prior to slaughter. Blood samples were collected from sheep before loading and prior to slaughter via jugular venipuncture to assess their physiological response to transport in relation to hormonal levels. Animals were weighed just before loading onto a truck and after transport to assess shrinkage. Muscle ultimate pH, expressed juice, cooking loss percentage, WB-shear force value, sarcomere length and colour L*, a*, b* were measured on samples from longissimus dorsi, biceps femoris and semitendinosus muscles collected at 24 h postmortem at 1-3°C. Live weight shrinkage losses were 1.09 and 1.52 kg for 6 and 12 month transported sheep, respectively. The transported sheep had significantly (p<0.05) higher cortisol, adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine concentration levels prior to slaughter at both ages than the not-transported sheep. Transportation significantly influenced meat quality characteristics of three muscles. Muscle ultimate pH and shear force values were significantly higher, while CIE L*, a*, b*, expressed juice and cooking loss were lower in transported than not-transported sheep. Age had a significant effect on meat quality characteristics of Omani sheep. These results indicated that short-term pre-slaughter transport at high ambient temperatures can cause noticeable changes in physiological and muscle metabolism responses in sheep.
Evaluation and Development of Actuators for Lamina Emergent Mechanisms with Emphasis on Flat Solenoids

Evaluation and Development of Actuators for Lamina Emergent Mechanisms with Emphasis on Flat Solenoids Justin D. Black Department of Mechanical Engineering, BYU Master of Science Lamina emergent mechanisms (LEMs) can provide a way to meet the demand for more compact and inexpensive mechanisms. Previous research has developed LEM designs and identified applications for them, but many applications would benefit from suitable actuation techniques. This thesis presents the design considerations and a variety of applicable methods for internal and external LEM actuation in the macro scale. Integrated LEM actuator possibilities have been identified, each with its advantages and disadvantages depending on the application. Shape memory alloys are especially compatible with LEMs. Traditional actuators have also been discussed as a way of actuating a LEM from the outside for cases in which space constraints allow it. The feasibility of new internal actuators using basic actuation principles, especially flat solenoids, has been explored. The magnetic field distribution along the axis of a high-aspectratio solenoid has been derived. Analytical and experimental results show that the output force of a high-aspect-ratio solenoid is suitable for LEMs. A pseudo-solenoid conceptual prototype was manufactured and evaluated, revealing challenges for which solutions have been recommended.
Effect of flock age and dietary fat on production and reproduction performance in Japanese quail.

An experiment was conducted to study the effect of Japanese quail and different dietary fat sources such as animal tallow fat (AT) and corn oil (CO) on some productive and reproductive traits. Ninety females and forty five males of Japanese quail were used in this experiment up to 32 weeks of age. Three experimental diets were formulated, the first diet had been free of fat or oil as control, while the second diet contained 3% CO and the third one contained 3% tallow fat. The dietary treatments were examined in two periods of age. The first period was from 16 to 24 weeks of age as the younger ones to be studied and the second group from 24 to 32 weeks of age being the elder age. The birds were randomly assigned in batteries for different dietary treatments with fifteen replicates per treatment. Elder age of quail represented a higher significant (P<0.01) egg weight compared to those produced from the younger ones. Whereas, there were no significant differences between younger and elder stages of maternal flock age with respect to egg production percentage, egg number and total egg mass. Total egg mass of birds fed AT was significantly (P<0.01) higher than those fed CO or control diets. There were no apparent significant effect attribute to flock age or dietary treatment on fertility and hatchability and tended to diminish numerically in younger age compared to elder ones. Time of hatch for chicks from elder flock age was delayed significantly compared to that for chicks from younger ones. Absolute and relative chick weight loss of elder age were significantly greater than those of younger ones. Regardless of maternal flock age, adding AT to the diet had lengthened the hatch time for the chick by about 1.85 hrs compared to those of CO group and by about 2.38 hrs compared with control one. Moreover, AT supplementation had decreased the chick weight loss percentage in the incubator compared to CO or control diet groups. The last chicks produced from birds fed AT and control diet groups had hatched by about 2 hrs later than those produced from birds fed CO diet.
PROPULSIVE EFFICIENCY OF ROWING

The purpose of this study was to examine propulsive efficiency in competitive rowing. Oar angle, handle force, boat velocity and acceleration were measured in 21 crews using telemetry. Energy waste and efficiencies of blade propulsion and boat velocity fluduations were calculated. Stroke rate and average boat velocity had a positive effect on the blade propulsion but they decrease boat efficiency. Higher ratio of average handle force to the maximal one increases blade efficiency (r = 0.48). Shorter drive time increases boat efficiency (r = -0.69). Improvement of blade efficiency could affect rowing performance (3- 5%) more than improvement of boat velocity efficiency (0.5-0.8%).
A hyperspectral view of the North Sea

On the 16 th of June 2003 a CASI hyperspectral airborne remote sensing campaign took place above the Southern North Sea, just offshore of Oostende. In coincidence with the airborne overpasses seaborne measurements of water leaving reflectance and water quality parameters were performed. In addition nearsimultaneous satellite imagery are available. This paper describes the analysis of the airborne data. The CASI data have been atmospherically corrected using the software WATCOR which is based on the radiative transfer code MODTRAN and takes into account atmospheric and air/water interface effects. Two different approaches for atmospheric information retrieval were tested. In the first approach aerosol information and visibility are estimated from sun photometer measurements combined with MODTRAN radiative transfer simulations. The second method is based on an adapted dark-target approach to estimate the visibility. The results of both methodologies are comparable. The data are subsequently geometrically corrected with PARGE. A semi-analytical approach is used to retrieve the concentration of the water constituents: for chlorophyll determination a bio-optically modeled red/NIR band ratio algorithm is applied to the data; to quantify the Suspended Particulate Matter a single band NIR algorithm is used. The results of these semi-analytical methods were compared to an analytical approach where the water quality parameters are retrieved using a matrix inversion of the Gordon reflectance model.
The Hybrid Dynamic Prototype Construction and Parameter Optimization with Genetic Algorithm for Support Vector Machine

The optimized hybrid artificial intelligence model is a potential tool to deal with construction engineering and management problems. Support vector machine (SVM) has achieved excellent performance in a wide variety of applications. Nevertheless, how to effectively reduce the training complexity for SVM is still a serious challenge. In this paper, a novel order-independent approach for instance selection, called the dynamic condensed nearest neighbor (DCNN) rule, is proposed to adaptively construct prototypes in the training dataset and to reduce the redundant or noisy instances in a classification process for the SVM. Furthermore, a hybrid model based on the genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed to simultaneously optimize the prototype construction and the SVM kernel parameters setting to enhance the classification accuracy. Several UCI benchmark datasets are considered to compare the proposed hybrid GA-DCNN-SVM approach with the previously published GA-based method. The experimental results illustrate that the proposed hybrid model outperforms the existing method and effectively improves the classification performance for the SVM.
Microsystem Strategies for Sample Preparation in Biological Detection

The objective of this LDRD was to develop microdevice strategies for dealing with samples to be examined in biological detection systems. This includes three sub-components: namely, microdevice fabrication, sample delivery to the microdevice, and sample processing within the microdevice. The first component of this work focused on utilizing Sandia's surface micromachining technology to fabricate small volume (nanoliter) fluidic systems for processing small quantities of biological samples. The next component was to develop interfaces for the surface-micromachined silicon devices. We partnered with Micronics, a commercial company, to produce fluidic manifolds for sample delivery to our silicon devices. Pressure testing was completed to examine the strength of the bond between the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer and the silicon chip. We are also pursuing several other methods, both in house and external, to develop polymer-based fluidic manifolds for packaging silicon-based microfluidic devices. The second component, sample processing, is divided into two sub-tasks: cell collection and cell lysis. Cell collection was achieved using dielectrophoresis, which employs AC fields to collect cells at energized microelectrodes, while rejecting non-cellular particles. Both live and dead Staph. aureus bacteria have been collected using RF frequency dielectrophoresis. Bacteria have been separated from polystyrene microspheres using frequency-shifting dielectrophoresis. Computational modeling wasmore » performed to optimize device separation performance, and to predict particle response to the dielectrophoretic traps. Cell lysis is continuing to be pursued using microactuators to mechanically disrupt cell membranes. Novel thermal actuators, which can generate larger forces than previously tested electrostatic actuators, have been incorporated with and tested with cell lysis devices. Significant cell membrane distortion has been observed, but more experiments need to be conducted to determine the effects of the observed distortion on membrane integrity and cell viability. Finally, we are using a commercial PCR DNA amplification system to determine the limits of detectable sample size, and to examine the amplification of DNA bound to microspheres. Our objective is to use microspheres as capture-and-carry chaperones for small molecules such as DNA and proteins, enabling the capture and concentration of the small molecules using dielectrophoresis. Current tests demonstrated amplification of DNA bound to micron-sized polystyrene microspheres using 20-50 microliter volume size reactions. « less
Report of the Working Group on Vital Parameters and Demography

Age distribution of franciscanas incidentally caught in northern Rio de Janeiro State, southeastern Brazil, was reported for 62 males and 57 females (Di Beneditto and Ramos, 2000). Males ranged from 0 to 5 years but were mostly of age 2. Females ranged from 0 to 9 years and were mostly of ages 2 and 3. Overall, 74% of all captured animals were of three years or younger. Age distribution of 260 franciscanas from incidental captures and strandings were obtained from three regions in southeastern Brazil: Espirito Santo State (ES) (n = 14), northern Rio de Janeiro State (NRJ) (n = 141) and Sao Paulo State (SP) (n = 105) (Ramos et al., 2000). A comparison between the age distribution of incidental catches in NRJ and strandings in SP indicated a higher percentage of older animals in SP: 73% were between 0-3 years in NRJ (incidental captures); the same percentage was between 36 years in SP (strandings) (K-S Test, n=164, P≤0.05). Since both samples are from different regions, it is unclear how to interpret the observed difference in age composition. However, similarities have been detected in the age structure of incidentally caught franciscana when compared over the complete distribution. Age classes up to 3 years were the most representative in southern Brazil (Pinedo, 1994; Ott, 1998; Ott et al., 2000), Uruguay (Kasuya and Brownell, 1979; Crespo et al., 1986) and Argentina (Perez Macri and Crespo, 1989, Corcuera et al., 1994). This suggests that captures are biased towards juveniles (see also IWC, 1994). Age distribution patterns for stranded franciscanas in other regions are unknown. A summary on information of age structure of the southern franciscana incidentally caught or stranded is given in Table 1.
BAND 3 PROTEIN INVOLVEMENT IN THE 61 O C TRANSITION OF HUMAN ERYTHROCYTE MEMBRANE RELEVANT TO THE HEMOLYTIC ANEMIAS OF THE TYPE MEMBRANOPATHY

Upon rapid (4 o C/min) heating of human erythrocytes and of NaCl-loaded erythrocyte membranes (EMs), suspended in low-salt/sucrose isotonic media, an intense out leakage of cytosolic ions is detected conductometrically at a temperature (Tg) that tends to 60.7 o C at zero heating rate. The Tg is considered as inducing for the hyperthermic (38-60 o C) activation of passive ion permeability and thermal hemolysis of erythrocytes. In erythrocytes and isolated EMs, pretreated (20-100 µM, pH 8.2) with 4,4'-diisothiocyano-2,2'-stilbene disulphonic acid, DIDS, powerful and specific inhibitor and thermal stabilizer of the anion exchanger, the EM band 3 protein (AE1), the Tg was increased by 3.54. 5 o C. This result suggests that the anion exchanger was involved in the Tg transition of EMs. The W/S spectral parameter of EPR spin probe 3-Maleimido-PROXYL, bound at pH 6.9 to isolated EMs, decreased over the denaturation intervals of spectrin (48-52 o C) and of anion exchanger (63-72 o C), but increased within the interval (58-63 o C) of Tg transition. In line with previous reports, the latter result is interpreted in terms of a predenaturation transition in the anion exchanger. As this protein is changed in some hereditary anemic conditions the obtained results could be used to discriminate between membranopathy and other types of anemia.
Information Systems Failure

Information systems (IS) failure is characterized as one particular form of evaluation of IS performance. It is multidimensional and relative to stakeholder interests. The objective of failure studies is to assist understanding of how to achieve success. This entry reviews recent performance data to assess the magnitude of the issue. It traces historical developments in the understanding of failure. It examines various changes that have affected perceptions of IS performance. It identifies a number of cognate subliteratures whose emergence recently signals a growing maturity of analysis. The entry proposes a framework by which to understand the historical development of academic research in this field. Finally, it offers some key conclusions for academic research and for practice