Lipid Metabolism and Comparative Genomics

Unilever asked the Study Group to focus on two problems. The first concerned dysregulated lipid metabolism which is a feature of many diseases including metabolic syndrome, obesity and coronary heart disease. The Study Group was asked to develop a model of the kinetics of lipoprotein metabolism between healthy and obese states incorporating the activities of key enzymes. The second concerned the use of comparative genomics in understanding and comparing metabolic networks in bacterium. Comparative genomics is a method to make inferences on the genome of a new organism using information of a previously charaterised organism. The first mathematical question is how one would quantify such a metabolic map in a statistical sense, in particular, where there are different levels of confidence for presense of different parts of the map. The next and most important question is how one can design a measurement strategy to maximise the confidence in the accuracy of the metabolic map

An Expressed Sequence Tag (EST)-enriched genetic map of turbot (Scophthalmus maximus): a useful framework for comparative genomics across model and farmed teleosts

[Background] The turbot (Scophthalmus maximus) is a relevant species in European aquaculture. The small turbot genome provides a source for genomics strategies to use in order to understand the genetic basis of productive traits, particularly those related to sex, growth and pathogen resistance. Genetic maps represent essential genomic screening tools allowing to localize quantitative trait loci (QTL) and to identify candidate genes through comparative mapping. This information is the backbone to develop marker-assisted selection (MAS) programs in aquaculture. Expressed sequenced tag (EST) resources have largely increased in turbot, thus supplying numerous type I markers suitable for extending the previous linkage map, which was mostly based on anonymous loci. The aim of this study was to construct a higher-resolution turbot genetic map using EST-linked markers, which will turn out to be useful for comparative mapping studies. [Results] A consensus gene-enriched genetic map of the turbot was constructed using 463 SNP and microsatellite markers in nine reference families. This map contains 438 markers, 180 EST-linked, clustered at 24 linkage groups. Linkage and comparative genomics evidences suggested additional linkage group fusions toward the consolidation of turbot map according to karyotype information. The linkage map showed a total length of 1402.7 cM with low average intermarker distance (3.7 cM; ~2 Mb). A global 1.6:1 female-to-male recombination frequency (RF) ratio was observed, although largely variable among linkage groups and chromosome regions. Comparative sequence analysis revealed large macrosyntenic patterns against model teleost genomes, significant hits decreasing from stickleback (54%) to zebrafish (20%). Comparative mapping supported particular chromosome rearrangements within Acanthopterygii and aided to assign unallocated markers to specific turbot linkage groups. [Conclusions] The new gene-enriched high-resolution turbot map represents a useful genomic tool for QTL identification, positional cloning strategies, and future genome assembling. This map showed large synteny conservation against model teleost genomes. Comparative genomics and data mining from landmarks will provide straightforward access to candidate genes, which will be the basis for genetic breeding programs and evolutionary studies in this species.This study was supported by the projects: Consolider Ingenio Aquagenomics (CSD200700002), Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (AGL2009-13273), and Xunta de Galicia local Government (09MMA011261PR). We are indebted to Lucía Insua, María Portela, Susana Sánchez, María López, Mónica Otero and Sonia Gómez for technical assistance. B.G. Pardo was supported by an Isidro Parga Pondal research fellowship from Xunta de Galicia (Spain)

Comparative Judgement Modeling to Map Forced Marriage at Local Levels

Forcing someone into marriage against their will is a violation of their human rights. In 2021, the county of Nottinghamshire, UK, launched a strategy to tackle forced marriage and violence against women and girls. However, accessing information about where victims are located in the county could compromise their safety, so it is not possible to develop interventions for different areas of the county. Comparative judgement studies offer a way to map the risk of human rights abuses without collecting data that could compromise victim safety. Current methods require studies to have a large number of participants, so we develop a comparative judgement model that provides a more flexible spatial modelling structure and a mechanism to schedule comparisons more effectively. The methods reduce the data collection burden on participants and make a comparative judgement study feasible with a small number of participants. Underpinning these methods is a latent variable representation that improves on the scalability of previous comparative judgement models. We use these methods to map the risk of forced marriage across Nottinghamshire thereby supporting the county's strategy for tackling violence against women and girls.Comment: Submitted. 31 pages, 8 figure

Human Resource Management Diffusion and Productivity Imbalances

In this study, we explore spatial variance in management practices and assess its potential contribution to regional imbalances in productivity. The research builds on a growing body of evidence which indicates that differences in management practices can account for a substantial share of cross-country differences in total factor productivity, and which identifies an important role for management practices in explaining differences in productivity between firms in the UK. We contribute to this literature by studying regional variation in HRM and related management practices using workplace-level (i.e. plant-level) data in Britain, taken from the Workplace Employment Relations Survey (WERS). We use these data to map spatial variance in HRM intensity in Britain. We then seek to account for that variance and, in doing so, establish whether regional variance in HRM can help to account for regional variance in productivity. This analysis is complemented by a comparative investigation of equivalent data for France, where levels of productivity and HRM are both higher and less dispersed

Comparative Study of Visual SLAM-Based Mobile Robot Localization Using Fiducial Markers

This paper presents a comparative study of three modes for mobile robot localization based on visual SLAM using fiducial markers (i.e., square-shaped artificial landmarks with a black-and-white grid pattern): SLAM, SLAM with a prior map, and localization with a prior map. The reason for comparing the SLAM-based approaches leveraging fiducial markers is because previous work has shown their superior performance over feature-only methods, with less computational burden compared to methods that use both feature and marker detection without compromising the localization performance. The evaluation is conducted using indoor image sequences captured with a hand-held camera containing multiple fiducial markers in the environment. The performance metrics include absolute trajectory error and runtime for the optimization process per frame. In particular, for the last two modes (SLAM and localization with a prior map), we evaluate their performances by perturbing the quality of prior map to study the extent to which each mode is tolerant to such perturbations. Hardware experiments show consistent trajectory error levels across the three modes, with the localization mode exhibiting the shortest runtime among them. Yet, with map perturbations, SLAM with a prior map maintains performance, while localization mode degrades in both aspects.Comment: IEEE 2023 IROS Workshop "Closing the Loop on Localization". For more information, see https://oravus.github.io/vpr-workshop/inde

Social Media and Academic Performance: Assisting Academic Achievement for English Language Learners

The purpose of this quantitative retrospective, causal-comparative study was to examine what, if any, statistically significant difference existed between Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) mathematical and reading achievement of English Language Learners (ELL) in a school using Seesaw—a social media platform—and those in a school not using Seesaw in an elementary school setting in Northern California. The population of ELL third and fourth-grade students within each participating school was 52, for a total of 104 participants. All ELL students in this study come from Spanish speaking homes and were Spanish speakers. Collection of data occurred through the MAP Growth assessments. Once both schools administered the assessments, the data were compared through a two-sample t-test. The archival data from both schools were analyzed and the data supported the alternate hypothesis that there was statistically significant difference exists between MAP mathematical and reading achievement of ELL students in a school using Seesaw and those in a school not using Seesaw in an elementary school setting in Northern California. Recommendations for further research include allowing for a longer period of time besides one school year, and a larger study using other, but similar platforms to obtain specific data regarding the use of Seesaw within the classroom

Pembuatan Peta Zona Nilai Tanah Untuk Menentukan Nilai Indikasi Rata-rata (Nir) Harga Pasar Menggunakan Sistem Informasi Geografis Di Kecamatan Ngaliyan, Kota Semarang (Studi Kasus :Kecamatan Ngaliyan, Kota Semarang)

Zona Nilai Tanah (ZNT) are areas which show the relatively similar value of the terrain and the boundaries of land use are imaginary or real appropriate. Each area of ZNThave a different values based on a comparative analysis of market prices and costs. Considering ZNT based on market value, ZNT can be used for the determination of tariffs in land services, the public reference to the transaction, the determination of compensation, the inventory value of public assets and the assets of the community, monitoring the value and market of land, and the determination reference of Nilai Jual Objek Pajak (NJOP) for PBB (Building and Land Tax), to make it more fair and transparent.Based on Semarang Regional Regulation Number 13 of 2011 on PBB, NJOP is the basis for the determination reference of PBB, which is one of the local revenue that is essential to improve service to the public. Therefore, it is necessary to realize the information value of the land for the functions realization of the land. One if it is map of ZNT.In this study, ZNT maps formed based on the value of the land with the assessment of the masses (not paying attention to property and the specific characteristics of the tax object) and use a comparison of sales (sales comparative), where the object of the tax is to be assessed in comparison with the object value of another tax type is already known.The results of this study is ZNT map that consits of 68 zones of the NJOP data and the transaction survey data. The change difference of transaction land price and NJOP with the low price is 49,45% and the highest price is 768,13%