Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gene coancestry in pedigrees and populations

Related individuals share common ancestors, and hence may carry DNA that is identical by descent (ibd) from these ancestors. With high probability, ibd DNA is of the same allelic type, leading to trait similarities among relatives. Classically, data on known relatives are used to map the genes underlying genetically mediated traits, and the prior probabilities of ibd are then given by the pedigree structure. However, pedigree data are expensive and difficult to collect, and the limited number of meioses within a set of known pedigrees leads to a lack of resolution in gene mapping. When pedigrees are ascertained for extreme trait values or from small populations, there are likely to be unknown relationships among the founder members of the same or of different pedigrees. Modern dense informative genetic marker data permit inference of ibd resulting from these unknown relationships, and this inferred ibd may be combined with ibd imputed within pedigrees to increase both the power and the resolution of mapping of genes contributing to complex quantitative traits. In this paper, we consider first the analysis of data within pedigrees, in terms of the ibd graph. This graph, defined among observed individuals and across the genome, specifies the segments of genome shared ibd among these individuals. Once the ibd graph is known, analyses of trait data may be carried out conditionally on the graph, and the pedigree relationships and genetic marker data are no longer relevant. We then show how ibd resulting from unknown more remote relationships can be estimated using a population-genetic based ibd model. Merging of the ibd graphs inferred within and among pedigrees provides a combined ibd graph, which may be used for trait-data analyses. We illustrate these methods with a small simulated-data example. We first examine the effect of genetic marker density on the inference of ibd in an extended pedigree. We then remove knowledge of some ancestors to create small subpedigrees, and analyze the ibd within and between these subpedigrees. Using the subpedigrees alone, linkage information is lost, but it is almost fully regained by inference of ibd among the subpedigrees. Software implementing these methods is available in the MORGAN-3 package (MORGAN V3.0.1 2010).
Biodiversity and Democracy: Rethinking Society and Nature

Acknowledgments 1. Introduction: A View of the Landscape 2. Biodiversity: An Environmental Condition 3. The Failure of Utilitarianism 4. The Failure of Economic Efficiency 5. The Failure of Consensus among Stakeholders 6. The Case for the Priority of Biodiversity Conservation 7. The Cost of Biodiversity Conservation 8. Constitutional and Legal Implications References Appendices 1. Categories of Protected Areas 2. Levels of Protection: Summary of Current Practice Index
Internal Auditing Research: Where are We Going? Editorial

In this editorial, I first discuss the content of the four papers contained in this special issue. Then, I discuss certain areas for future research in internal auditing, based upon the concept of internal audit function (IAF) quality. I raise the question: ‘when can we talk about an effective IAF? ’ In theory, the answer should be: ‘when IAF quality has a positive impact on the quality of corporate governance’. IAF quality consists of two components that merit further investigation: (1) the characteristics of the IAF as a whole, and (2) the characteristics of the individual internal auditor. In addition, future research should investigate to what extent IAF quality is associated with internal control quality and risk management quality, two important aspects of corporate governance. Finally, I stress the importance of the risk and control culture, when studying the relationship between IAF quality and internal control quality or risk management quality.
Corporate reporting in emerging economies: determinants and consequences

Purpose – This editorial aims to provide an overview of the six papers selected for publication in this special issue. It discusses the determinants and consequences of different areas of corporate reporting in emerging economies and suggests potential avenues for future research. Design/methodology/approach – The editorial adopts a review approach, identifying key issues and themes related to different areas of corporate reporting in emerging economies and provides a context for future research. Findings – The editorial highlights some practical implications with research into corporate reporting in emerging economies, calls for further reflections and suggests factors to be considered in future research in this area. Originality/value – The editorial provides a review of current issues in corporate disclosure research and reviews these papers which demonstrate a particular approach to research that is relevant to both practitioners and academics. It provides a basis and a research agenda for accounting scholars seeking to undertake research in this significant and emerging field. The separation between ownership and control creates an agency problem, particularly an information asymmetry issue, where market participants believe that managers tend to behave to their own benefits (Jensen & Meckling, 1976). Accordingly, any mechanism intended to overcome the information asymmetry issue is profound to the success of the financial market (Ronen & Yaari, 2002). One of the most effective mechanisms in mitigating such problem is keeping investors informed through disclosure which is critical for the functioning of capital market (Healy & Palepu, 2001). Financial statements information is crucial, however, it reflects only one part of the overall firm performance. That is, it focuses only on the short-term results of firms, giving little emphasis to their long-term value potential (Beattie et al., 2004). The International Accounting Standard Board (IASB) argues that “if financial statements are not sufficient to meet the objectives of financial reporting, then the IASB should consider requiring the disclosure of other information to help the financial reports meet their objective” (IASB, 2005, p. 11).
Background Signals in Wavelength-Modulation Spectrometry by use of Frequency-Doubled Diode-Laser Light. II. Experiment.

In an accompanying paper [Appl. Opt. 40, 783-793 (2001)], we predict the existence of background signals from a frequency-doubled wavelength-modulated diode-laser system. We now demonstrate and characterize various nf harmonics of such background signals from a system producing light in the 422-nm region by use of a single-pass KNbO(3) crystal with respect to the modulation amplitude, the laser center frequency, and the crystal temperature. It is demonstrated that 2f detection is plagued by considerably larger amounts of background signal than is detection at other higher, even harmonics. This result implies that 4f or 6f detection is often to be preferred in comparison with 2f detection when frequency-doubled wavelength-modulation spectrometry (WMS) is to be used. This preference is illustrated by the detection of Ca in an acetylene-air flame. It is also shown that the background signals have a much stronger dependence on the modulation amplitude than do the analytical signals. This difference implies that the optimum detectability for frequency-doubled WMS is often reached for modulation amplitudes lower than those normally used. An analysis of the effect of a finite temperature stability of the doubling crystal on the drift of the background signals as well as on the detectability is included. The results verify the theoretical description given in our accompanying paper.
Tuberculosis and Genetics of Sub-Saharan Africa Human Population

Sub-Saharan Africa has continued leading in the prevalence and incidence of tuberculosis (TB). The epidemiological triad of infectious diseases includes a susceptible host, pathogen/agent, and environment. Sub- Saharan Africa has the highest prevalence and incidence of TB. It is imperative that all aspects of vertices of the infectious disease triad are analysed to better understand why this is so. Many studies have been done to address this intriguing reality though these have mainly addressed pathogen and environmental components of the triad regarding TB infection. The host factors have not been exhaustively studied in this high TB burden region probably due to lack of the necessary expertise and technologies among African scholars yet three components of the triad interact to determine the disease outcome. Amongst host factors, genetic structure of the host greatly affects progression of disease following exposure. Studies have revealed that Africa is the most genetically diverse region of the world in addition to being the origin of modern humans therefore it would be important to study genetics of sub-Saharan African population in relation to TB. This review seeks to analyze contribution of host genetics to the observed variation in susceptibility to TB infection in this region.
The role of IGF-I in the development of cardiovascular disease in type 2 diabetes mellitus: is prevention possible?

The incidence of peripheral, cerebro- and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus is approximately twice as high as in the non-diabetic population. Conventional cardiovascular risk factors such as plasma lipids, lipoproteins and hypertension only partially explain this excessive risk of developing atherosclerosis and CVD. Meta-analysis of studies performed in non-diabetic populations indicates that the risk of CVD increases continuously with glucose levels above 4.2 mmol/l. The glucose hypothesis suggests that treatment which normalizes glucose levels prevents or delays the long-term complications of diabetes mellitus. However, the outcome of the UK Prospective Diabetes Study demonstrates that glucose control does not completely prevent CVD.In healthy subjects, serum IGF-I levels peak in early adulthood, after which they gradually decrease with increasing age. Several observations suggest that there is a premature and progressive age-related decline in serum IGF-I bioactivity in type 2 diabetics, which eventually results in a (relative) IGF-I deficiency. In type 2 diabetics, close relationships have been demonstrated between glycaemic control and serum IGF-I levels, with worse control being associated with lower IGF-I levels. Several studies (in non-diabetics) suggest that lowered circulating IGF-I levels account for a poor outcome of CVD. We previously observed in a population-based study that a genetically determined lowered IGF-I expression increases the risk of myocardial infarction with type 2 diabetes. This genetic approach overcomes the problem that cross-sectional studies cannot distinguish whether changes in IGF-I levels are a cause or a consequence of a disease. IGF-I is an important metabolic regulatory hormone. In addition, IGF-I suppresses myocardial apoptosis and improves myocardial function in various models of experimental cardiomyopathy. Compared with other growth factors, the 'survival' effect of IGF-I on myocardium seems rather unique.Therefore, we hypothesize that the premature and progressive decline in serum IGF-I bioactivity in ageing patients with type 2 diabetics is an important pathophysiological abnormality. It contributes not only to elevated glucose and lipid levels, but also to the progression and the poor outcome of CVD. If this hypothesis is proven to be right, treatment with IGF-I as an adjunct to insulin offers great potential and might not only improve metabolic control but also reduce the incidence and prevalence of CVD in type 2 diabetes patients. However, there is as yet no experimental evidence that long-term (replacement) treatment with IGF-I prevents, delays or reduces CVD in type 2 diabetes patients. Clinical trials are necessary to prove that long-term IGF-I treatment, preferably in the form of a better-tolerated IGF-I/IGF-binding protein-3 complex, improves the overall cardiovascular risk in type 2 diabetes.
Financial Management for Public, Health, and Not-for-Profit Organizations

Preface Acknowledgment About the Author I. INTRODUCTION: SETTING THE STAGE. 1. Introduction to Financial Management. II. PLANNING 2. Planning for Success: Budgeting. 3. Additional Budgeting Concepts. 4. Understanding Costs. 5. Capital Budgeting. 6. Long-Term Financing. III. IMPLEMENTATION AND CONTROLLING RESULTS. 7. Managing Short-Term Resource and Obligations 8. Accountability and Control. IV. REPORTING RESULTS. 9. Taking Stock of Where You Are: The Balance Sheet. 10. Reporting the Results of Operations: The Activity and Cash Flow Statements. 11. Unique Aspects of Accounting for Health Care and Not-for-Profit Organizations. 12. Unique Aspects of Accounting for State and Local Governments. 13. Unique Aspects of Accounting for State and Local Governments -- Part II: Reporting Financial Results V. FINANCIAL ANALYSIS. 12. Financial Statement Analysis. 13. Unique Aspects of Accounting for State and Local Governments Index
The Barriers that Hinder the Success of Women Entrepreneurs in Gauteng, South Africa

Women entrepreneurs in South Africa play a critical and important role in the economy of the country with regards to income and employment creation. Women have gained tremendously from national liberation and the disassembling of apartheid and have strategically advanced their rights and interests in society, yet they still face enormous barriers and are still discriminated and stereotyped. Although women account for more than half population, they are limited from the formal business environment. Their contribution in business is mainly located in areas of crafts, hawking, personal services and retail sectors. Access to finance; the regulatory environment; developmental opportunities; cultural and societal values; education and training; and family responsibility are the major challenges facing women entrepreneurs. Even though the above barriers are a challenge, women entrepreneurs have success factors which motivate them to continue with their businesses which include: profitability; social recognition; consumer satisfaction; diversification; flexibility; personal freedom; and security. Several studies around the world have shed light on challenges faced by women entrepreneurs but not much research has been conducted on the success factors that inspire women to remain in business. This study identifies the barriers and the success factors of women entrepreneurs in Gauteng, South Africa. One hundred and forty four respondents participated in this quantitative study by answering a questionnaire and the data was captured using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences programme. The empirical research methodology performed included descriptive statistics, factor analysis, correlation, and analysis of variance to identify the barriers that hinder start-up, management and growth of women entrepreneurs in Gauteng, South Africa.
Enhancing Food Safety through Adoption of Long-Term Technical Advisory, Financial, and Storage Support Services in Maize Growing Areas of East Africa

Grain production and storage are major components in food security. In the ancient times, food security was achieved through gathering of fruits, grains, herbs, tubers, and roots from the forests by individual households. Advancements in human civilization led to domestication of crops and a need to save food for not only a household, but the nation. This extended need for food security led to establishment of national reservoirs for major produces and this practice varies greatly in different states. Each of the applied food production, handling, and storage approaches has its benefits and challenges. In sub-Saharan Africa, several countries have a public funded budget to subsidize production costs, to buy grains from farmers, and to store the produce for a specific period and/or until the next harvests. During the times of famine, the stored grains are later sold at subsidized prices or are given for free to the starving citizens. If there is no famine, the grain is sold to retailers and/or processors (e.g., millers) who later sell it to the consumers. This approach works well if the produce (mainly grain) is stored under conditions that do not favor growth of molds, as some of these microbes could contaminate the grain with toxic and carcinogenic metabolites called mycotoxins. Conditions that alleviate contamination of grains are required during production, handling, and storage. Most of the grain is produced by smallholder farmers under sub-optimal conditions, making it vulnerable to colonization and contamination by toxigenic fungi. Further, the grain is stored in silos at large masses, where it is hard to monitor the conditions at different points of these facilities, and hence, it becomes vulnerable to additional contamination. Production and storage of grain under conditions that favor mycotoxins poses major food health and safety risks to humans and livestock who consume it. This concept paper focuses on how establishment of a local grain production and banking system (LGPBS) could enhance food security and safety in East Africa. The concept of LGPBS provides an extension of advisory and finance support within warehouse receipt system to enhance grain production under optimal conditions. The major practices at the LGPBS and how each could contribute to food security and safety are discussed. While the concept paper gives more strength on maize production and safety, similar practices could be applied to enhance safety of other grains in the same LGPBS.
The radical radiotherapy of regionally localized Hodgkin's disease.

Hodgkin's disease has long been a subject of controversy focused variously on its essential nature (neoplasia vs. infection), its site of origin (unifocal vs. multicentric or systemic), its histologic classification, and its optimal treatment (14) . It is therefore ironic that one of the few aspects concerning which there has been rather wide agreement is its prognosis. The concept of Hodgkin's disease as an inexorably fatal condition has taken firm hold, so much so that it is actually defined in one recent textbook on the pathology of lymphoid tumors (21) as a “progressive condition leading inevitably to death. ” If one were to accept such a definition at its face value, the advent of a curative form of therapy would presumably require a change in the diagnosis! This hopeless attitude, which seems philosophically linked to the view that the disease makes its first appearance in multicentric or disseminated foci, is responsible for the fact that the established approach to treatment has been palliative (23.
MUSCULOSKELETAL INJURIES IN WRESTLING ATHLETES

Objective: The present study aimed to retrospectively evaluate musculoskeletal injuries in elite Brazilian wrestlers. Methods: Ninety-five wrestlers completed a structured questionnaire to assess wrestling injury history and clinical and demographic data. Results: Eighty one athletes (85,3%) informed 145 lesions. The most commonly injured body regions were knee (25,5%), shoulder (20%), thigh (15,2%) and ankle (14,5%). Sprains (34,5%) and muscle lesions (30,4%) were the most common injuries. Surgical treatment was performed in 9% of the lesions and the majority of these lesions (61,5%) were located in the lower limbs. Conclusions: Musculoskeletal lesions are common in wrestling athletes and the lower limbs are the most frequently injured site.
Depressed Inflammatory Response to Repeated Angioplasty in Unstable Angina Patients with an In-Stent Restenosis

Background: Inflammation plays a key role in the pathogenesis of an in-stent restenosis because it promotes neointimal proliferation. This study was performed to determine responses of the C-reactive protein (CRP) in unstable angina patients with an in-stent restenosis undergoing repeated percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (re-PTCA). Methods: The study subjects (unstable angina) were classified into 2 groups: Group A (n=30, 15 men, mean age 62 years) had a re-PTCA for an in-stent restenosis lesion and Group B (n=60, 33 men, mean age 63 years) underwent a stent implantation for a de novo lesion. Results: The baseline CRP levels in group A were significantly lower than in group B, as well as 6 and 24 hours after intervention. Twenty four hours after intervention, the CRP levels increased (>4 mg/L) in 3 out of 30 patients (10%) of group A but increased in 32 out of 60 patients (53%) in group B (p<0.001). The differences in the CRP levels between the baseline and 24 hours after intervention were significantly lower in group A than in group B (0.8 and 2.15 mg/L, respectively, p<0.001). In group B, the serum CRP levels 24 hours after intervention were significantly higher than the baseline levels (p<0.05), but not in group A. Conclusions: The CRP expression level is significantly lower in unstable angina patients undergoing a re-PTCA for an in-stent restenosis than those undergoing a stent
SIMULATIONS OF OPTICAL TURBULENCE VIA NUMERICAL WEATHER PREDICTION FOR USE IN OPTICAL COMMUNICATION STUDIES

Optical turbulence (OT) acts to distort light in the atmosphere, degrading imagery from large astronomical telescopes and possibly reducing data quality of laser communication links. Some of the degradation due to turbulence can be corrected by adaptive optics. However, the severity of OT, and thus the amount of correction required, is largely dependent on the turbulence at the location of interest. Therefore, it is vital to understand the climatology of OT at such locations. In many cases, it is impractical and expensive to set up instrumentation to characterize the climatology of OT, so simulations become a less expensive and convenient alternative. The strength of OT is characterized by the refractive index structure function Cn, which in turn is used to calculate atmospheric seeing parameters. Although attempts have been made to characterize Cn using empirical models, Cn can be calculated more directly from Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) simulations using pressure, temperature, thermal stability, vertical wind shear, turbulent Prandtl number, and turbulence kinetic energy (TKE). In this work we use the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) NWP model to generate Cn climatologies in the planetary boundary layer and free atmosphere, allowing both point-to-point and ground-to-space seeing estimates of the Fried Coherence length (ro) and other seeing parameters. Simulations are performed using the Maui High Performance Computing Center’s Jaws cluster. The WRF model is configured to run at 1-km horizontal resolution over a ~60-km by 60-km domain. The vertical resolution varies from 25 m in the boundary layer to 500 m in the stratosphere. The model top is 20 km. The Mellor-Yamada-Janjic (MYJ) TKE scheme has been modified to diagnose the turbulent Prandtl number as a function of the Richardson number, following observations by Kondo and others. This modification deweights the contribution of the buoyancy term in the equation for TKE by reducing the ratio of the eddy diffusivity of heat to momentum. This is necessary particularly in the stably stratified free atmosphere where turbulence occurs in thin layers not typically resolvable by the model. The modified MYJ scheme increases the probability and strength of TKE in thermally stable conditions, thereby increasing the probability of OT. Over 12 months of simulations have been generated. Results indicate realistic values of the ro are obtained when compared with observations from a Differential Image Motion Monitor instrument. Seeing is worse during day than at night with large ro’s observed just after sunset and just before sunrise. Three-dimensional maps indicate how seeing varies as a function of location and elevation. This study has shown that urban heat islands and nighttime low-level jets can greatly influence the production of OT. Detailed results of this study will be presented at the conference.