Geometric construction of spinors in orthogonal modular categories

A geometric construction of Z_2-graded orthogonal modular categories is given. Their 0-graded parts coincide with categories previously obtained by Blanchet and the author from the category of tangles modulo the Kauffman skein relations. Quantum dimensions and twist coefficients for 1-graded simple objects (spinors) are calculated. We show that our even orthogonal modular categories admit cohomological refinements and the odd orthogonal ones lead to spin refinements. The relation with the quantum group approach is discussed.Comment: Published by Algebraic and Geometric Topology at http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/agt/AGTVol3/agt-3-32.abs.htm

Hook-content formulae for symplectic and orthogonal tableaux

By considering the specialisation $s_{\lambda}(1,q,q^2,...,q^{n-1})$ of the Schur function, Stanley was able to describe a formula for the number of semistandard Young tableaux of shape $\lambda$ in terms of two properties of the boxes in the diagram for $\lambda$. Using specialisations of symplectic and orthogonal Schur functions, we derive corresponding formulae, first given by El Samra and King, for the number of semistandard symplectic and orthogonal $\lambda$-tableaux.Comment: Withdrawn; paper is outdate

Interview with Diane Fulton

Diane Fulton talks about the Alcove Restauranthttps://digital.kenyon.edu/ps_interviews/1007/thumbnail.jp

CONSUMER PREFERENCES AS DRIVERS OF THE COMMON BEAN TRADE IN TANZANIA: A MARKETING PERSPECTIVE

The objective of this study was to determine the impact of bean grain quality characteristics on market price. The data was collected from retail markets in Tanzania. Hedonic pricing provides a statistical estimate of premiums and discounts. Implications for development of bean markets include: i) extension agents should identify cost-effective ways to educate producers on targeting urban market niches based on consumer preferences for varieties, ii) breeding for bruchid resistant beans and use of appropriate storage technologies would alleviate the problems of storage damage, and iii) requiring a portfolio of grain quality characteristics to fit consumer preferences in local markets.Beans, markets, consumer preferences, hedonic, storage, Tanzania

How fast is fisheries-induced evolution? : Quantitative analysis of modelling and empirical studies

Peer reviewe

Interview with Susan Ramser

Susan Ramser talks about the Alcove Restauranthttps://digital.kenyon.edu/ps_interviews/1006/thumbnail.jp

Evolving from Student to Teacher: Insights from the Conversation Café on Doctoral Student Mentorship

Mentorship has been proposed as a key process for preparing doctoral students as effective educators. However, few models have been described in-depth. To address this challenge, four social work doctoral graduates and one senior faculty member shared their insights drawing on their study on collaborative teaching mentorship, reflecting on their mentorship experiences and inviting feedback from the conference audience in the Conversation Café forum. The resultant discussion supported findings from our research and reinforced that more systematic and reflective efforts are needed to adequately prepare doctoral students for future teaching responsibilities. Specific strategies are summarized.

Molecular breeding techniques to improve egg quality

Since the release of the chicken genome sequence in 2004 (Hillier et al., 2004), the tool box available for genetic improvement of the multiple traits that define egg quality has improved tremendously. That initial sequence has been revised and improved several times with Gallus_gallus-4.0 now available in multiple publicly accessible websites. An improved Gallus_gallus-5.0 version is soon to be released. Genome sequence comparisons between mammalian and avian species have allowed for the identification and subsequent annotation of genes, and initiated the understanding of the functions of the genes and the interdependent relationships between the thousands of genes that comprise multicellular organisms\u27. The recent sequencing of multiple breeds of chickens, both research and commercially utilized lines, revealed the presence of millions of genetic variants and resulted in the development of a commercially available chip that can simultaneously query 600000 single DNA base sequence variants (Kranis et al., 2013). Numerous methodologies are now available that allow for detection of gene expression in specific tissues or relative gene expression between different treatments or individuals (Rapaport et al., 2013). To aid in the analysis of the large amounts of genetic information that is generated, various computer programmes have been developed that allow for the integration and eventual application of this information into a breeding programme (Wolc et al., 2016)

Genetic Basis of Resistance to Avian Influenza

Two high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreaks haveseverelyaffected the poultry industryon the American continentwithin the last four years; a 2012 H7N3 outbreak in Mexicoand a 2015 H5N2 outbreak in the US. Blood samples were collectedfrom survivors of each outbreak plus age and genetics matched non-affected controls. As surviving birds could contain natural genetic mutation(s) that make them resistant to HPAI,the goal of the present study was to identify genomic regions associated with resistance to HPAIand to determinewhether resistance regionsare the same fordifferent virus strains.Four genomic regions were identified for the H5N2 outbreak and fivedifferent regions were identified for the H7N3 outbreak. The apparentdifferent genomic regions of resistance for different virus strains is achallengefor the poultry industry, as it requires amore diversified strategyfor improving resistance toAI

Accounting for Complex Population Structure in Pedigree and Genomic Analyses of Laying Chickens

The objective of this study was to verify if fitting line composition in the model to analyze an admixed population would impact accuracy of pedigree and genomic estimated breeding values (EBV). Fitting line composition improved predictive ability for some traits in pedigree based analyses. In genomic prediction analyses, the accuracies for traits with high heritabilities were not affected by fitting line composition, whereas for lower heritability traits either positive or negative effects were observed. It was more important to correct for population structure in pedigree-based than in genomic analyses