Space-time coding for UMTS. Performance evaluation in combination with convolutional and turbo coding

Space-time codes provide both diversity and coding gain when using multiple transmit antennas to increase spectral efficiency over wireless communications systems. Space-time block codes have already been included in the standardization process of UMTS in conjunction with conventional channel codes (convolutional and turbo codes). We discuss different encoding and decoding strategies when transmit diversity is combined with conventional channel codes, and present simulations results for the TDD and FDD modes of UTRA.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

"Wiping the Pot Clean": On cooking pots and polishing operations in Neo-Assyrian sources

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Multivariate meta-analysis of QTL mapping studies

A large number of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for milk production and quality traits in dairy cattle has been reported in literature. The large amount of information available could be exploited by meta-analyses to draw more general conclusions from results obtained in different experimental conditions (animals, statistical methodologies). QTL meta-analyses have been carried out to estimate the distribution of QTL effects in livestock and to find consensus on QTL position. In this study, multivariate dimension reduction techniques are used to analyse a database of dairy cattle QTL published results, in order to extract latent variables able to characterise the research. A total of 92 papers by 72 authors were found on 25 scientific Journals for the period January 1995-February 2008. More than thirty parameters were picked up from the articles. To overcome the problem of different map location, the flanking markers were mapped on release 4.1 of the Bos taurus genome sequence (www.ensembl. org). Their position was retrieved from public databases and, when absent, was calculated in silico by blasting (http://blast.wustl.edu/) the markers’ nucleotide sequence against the genomic sequence. Records were discarded if flanking markers or P-values were not available. After these edits, the final archive consisted of 1,162 records. Seven selected variables were analysed both with the Factor Analysis (FA), combined with the varimax rotation technique, and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). FA was able to explain 68% of the original variability with 3 latent factors: the first factor extracted was highly associated (factor loading of 0.98) to marker location along the chromosome and could be considered as a marker map index; the second factor showed factor loadings of 0.74 and 0.84 related to the variable number of animals involved and year of the experiment, respectively, and it can be regarded as an indicator of the dimension of the study; the third factor was correlated to the significance level of the statistical test (0.78), number of families (0.63), and, negatively, to the marker density (-0.43). It can be named as index of power of the experiment. Same patterns can be observed in the eigenvectors of PCA. Four PCs were able to explain about 80% of the original variance. The first two PCs basically underlined accurately the same structure found with the first two factors in FA, whereas PC3 and PC4 summarized the structure of F3. The score that each QTL gets on each Factor or PC could be useful to classify the original QTL records and make them more comparable once that the redundancy of information has been removed

Multiscale Assimilation of Sentinel and Landsat Data for Soil Moisture and Leaf Area Index Predictions Using an Ensemble-Kalman-Filter-Based Assimilation Approach in a Heterogeneous Ecosystem

Data assimilation techniques allow researchers to optimally merge remote sensing observations in ecohydrological models, guiding them for improving land surface fluxes predictions. Presently, freely available remote sensing products, such as those of Sentinel 1 radar, Landsat 8 sensors, and Sentinel 2 sensors, allow the monitoring of land surface variables (e.g., radar backscatter for soil moisture and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and for leaf area index (LAI)) at unprecedentedly high spatial and time resolutions, appropriate for heterogeneous ecosystems, typical of semiarid ecosystems characterized by contrasting vegetation components (grass and trees) competing for water use. A multiscale assimilation approach that assimilates radar backscatter and grass and tree NDVI in a coupled vegetation dynamic-land surface model is proposed. It is based on the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), and it is not limited to assimilating remote sensing data for model predictions, but it uses assimilated data for dynamically updating key model parameters (the ENKFdc approach), including saturated hydraulic conductivity and grass and tree maintenance respiration coefficients, which are highly sensitive parameters of soil-water balance and biomass budget models, respectively. The proposed EnKFdc assimilation approach facilitated good predictions of soil moisture, grass, and tree LAI in a heterogeneous ecosystem in Sardinia for a 3-year period with contrasting hydrometeorological (dry vs. wet) conditions. Contrary to the EnKF-based approach, the proposed EnKFdc approach performed well for the full range of hydrometeorological conditions and parameters, even assuming extremely biased model conditions with very high or low parameter values compared with the calibrated ("true") values. The EnKFdc approach is crucial for soil moisture and LAI predictions in winter and spring, key seasons for water resources management in Mediterranean water-limited ecosystems. The use of ENKFdc also enabled us to predict evapotranspiration and carbon flux well, with errors of less than 4% and 15%, respectively; such results were obtained even with extremely biased initial model conditions

Use of genomic information in genetic evaluation of livestock

The imprecise location of Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) in the genome of livestock species has represented a relevant constraint for commercial application of Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) in the past. Nowadays, thanks to chip DNA technology, thousands of markers can be used in genomic selection of livestock. The overall objective of the thesis was to investigate on the use of genetic markers in animal breeding. Specific objectives were: i) a meta-analysis study of QTL data through factor analysis (FA); ii) to study factors affecting direct genomic value (DGV) accuracy; iii) to reduce the dimensionality of marker data through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) FA extracted three factor (F). F1 was associated (0.98) to marker location (marker map index); the F2 was correlated with population size (0.74) and the year (0.84) (dimension of the study); F3 was correlated to the significance level (0.78), the number of families (0.63) and, the marker density (-0.43) (power of the experiment index). The score that each QTL got on each factor may be used to classify the original QTL. The DGV accuracy increased with the heritability, marker density and number of daughters per bull. Whereas, the number of QTLs and generation of random mating did not show any relevant effect. The PC approach yielded the same accuracy of predicted DGV obtained with the regression using SNP genotypes directly, with a reduction in the number of predictors of about 96% and computation time by 99%

detectRUNS: Detect runs of homozygosity and runs of heterozygosity in diploid genomes

detectRUNS is a R package for the detection of runs of homozygosity (ROH/ROHom) and of heterozygosity (ROHet, a.k.a. “heterozygosity-rich regions”) in diploid genomes. ROH/ROHom were first studied in humans (e.g. McQuillan et al. 2008) and rapidly found applications not only in human genetics abut also in animal genetics (e.g. Ferencakovic et al., 2011, in Bos taurus). More recently, the idea of looking also at “runs of heterozygosity” (ROHet or, more appropriately, “heterozygosity-rich regions”) has been proposed (Wiliams et al. 2016)