Genomic Selection In Perennial Ryegrass

Genomic selection (GS) for crop improvement makes use of genome-wide molecular marker information available in more and more species. The aim is to enable accurate prediction of breeding values for target traits of a quantitative nature by determining the effect on phenotype of all the markers simultaneously. GS has proven its usefulness in animal breeding programmes, but its impact in plant breeding is only just emerging. GS can potentially increase the speed of the breeding cycle, reduce the cost and effort of phenotyping, and achieve faster selection of candidates for crossing programmes and production of synthetic varieties. Phenotypic predictions are based on models developed in a training population for which both phenotypic and genotypic data are available. The size of the training population and the density of molecular marker coverage are key constraints for prediction accuracy. The perennial ryegrass recurrent selection breeding programme at IBERS is based on a relatively small founder population, theoretically decreasing the number of molecular markers needed to achieve a certain level of prediction accuracy. Evidence will be presented for estimation of the extent of LD in this population. This will be followed by a description of how we aim to integrate GS into the existing breeding programme. Some initial cross-validation results will be presented using existing phenotypic data and molecular marker data of approximately 3000 markers, largely based on a ridge-regression best linear unbiased prediction model.publishersversionPeer reviewe

A Queer Love : The Gay Male in Young Adult Literature

The purpose of my thesis· A Queer Love: The Gay Male in Young Adult Literature -is to offer an analysis of seven young adult novels that incorporate the construction and representation of while male homosexuality. I intend to explore what it is that can be learnt from these texts about \u27being gay\u27. It is my assertion that I will be able to show that, although taboos have been shifted in young adult literature to allow the exploration of issues relating to gay adolescence, that which is condoned as acceptable \u27gay behavior\u27 remains restricted. I propose that in order for gay adolescents to gain a positive reading from a young adult text incorporating homosexuality, those responsible for the production of these texts must move away from promulgating stereotypes of the gay man. What these texts need to focus on is ensuring that homophobia becomes as socially unacceptable as racism has become at the end of the twentieth century. Throughout my thesis I will be endeavoring to place the texts that I am using in to a cultural context which will reflect the influence upon young adult literature by a variety of groups. These include authors, publishers, educators, librarians and parents. Another important influence upon the production of Young Adult Literature is the society in which it is produced. For this reason I have selected texts from North America, Great Britain and Australia in order to investigate how these factors converge to shape the construction of homosexual characters in Young Adult Literature

Two distinct AFLP types in three populations of marram grass (Ammophila arenaria in Wales)

The genetic structure of marram grass populations at coastal and inland locations, 200 m apart, was investigated at three sites by means of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP) DNA markers. We expected a genetic differentiation between coastal and inland populations and more genetic variation in the coastal areas as a result of different events of colonization by different plant materials. An assignment test showed that the sampled Ammophila arenaria could be assigned to two groups based on AFLP data. The spatial distribution of the two AFLP types of A. arenaria varied with sampling location. In two of the three locations, mainly one type (1) was found in the newly formed dunes. This type did also occur further landward, but the second type (2) was preferentially found in inland populations. Genetic diversity was very low and of similar value in both coastal and inland populations. For each site, outlier loci with respect to FST value were identified, which may be indicative of different selection pressures in coastal compared with inland clusters. However, no identical outlier loci were found at all three sites. Possible explanations for the observed difference in distribution of type 1 and 2 populations between coastal and inland sites are discusse

Percent of Cytopathic Effect in Vero vs Vero-76 cells

Vero cells and Vero-76 cells are both used to evaluate the antiviral effect of drugs in vitro. This study tested whether Vero and Vero-76 cells yield similar cytopathic effects when inoculated with yellow fever Virus (YFV) or Dengue Virus(DV). Each virus was plated on replicated 96 well plates of Vero and Vero-76 cells with different cell concentrations. The two cells lines did not give significantly different results for most cell and virus concentrations

En valensgrammatisk undersøgelse

The purpose of this dissertation is to map the valency structure of a subset of the French adverbs. More specifically, the dissertation seeks to answer the following questions: What valency structure follows from the lexical content of the adverbs investigated? What is the nature of the semantic relation established? What is the status of the valents relative to the adverb and relative to other valents? The empirical object of investigation is focused on adverbs derived from adjectives which take prepositional phrases headed by the preposition à as their complement. In addition, the delimitation chosen for this dissertation is a class of adverbs which share the feature that they carry the suffix -ment, which developed from the Latin noun mens, meaning “spirit/thought/mood/tenor”. It is argued that the fusion of an adverb and mens establishes the general meaning [in an adjective spirit/thought/mood/tenor], i.e. the adverb retains the general quality denoted by the adjective, but the meaning targets the verb situation (at clause level) or the quality (at phrasal level) which saturates the argument of the adverb. Following tradition, the analysis adopted here, takes the verb situation to be realised by the predicate, and the quality to be realised by an adjective phrase, which may be realised by a past participle or, in rare cases, by another adverb. Since the valent is required by the lexical content of the adverb, it is assumed, following Herslund and Sørensen, that the valent is a fundamental valent. Another important feature of the adverbs which are analysed in this dissertation is that they establish a relation between two entities. This means that in addition to its fundamental valent, the adverb takes a further valent which it links with the fundamental valent. This second valent is referred to as the second valent of the adverb. The two valents are analysed as two relata in a relation. Unlike the fundamental valent, the second valent is always at phrasal level. When the adverb functions at clausal level, the second valent is realised as the prepositional object of the preposition phrase headed by à. This realisation is, however, not possible when the adverb functions at phrasal level. It is argued that this is a consequence of the fact that it is impossible to insert other constituents between the adverb and the adjective, adverb or participle which is modified by the adverb. The result is that where the second valent is realised, the adverb moves from preposition to postposition relative to its fundamental valent. In the data investigated the second valent denotes very different entities such as situations denoted by verbs and qualities, but also objects and abstract entities. The individual adverbs which are investigated here each determine their valency. In general there are different sources that allow us to uncover the core meaning of a word. The sources chosen in this dissertation are: the semantic roles assigned by the adverbs, their symmetry, elements of shared semantics or partial synonymy, their morphology and etymological roots. In order to bring together these different sources, the dissertation postulates a denotation design for each adverb. The etymology of the adverbs has been a particularly helpful in determining the relation and valency they establish. In addition to adverb and adjective suffixes, the majority of the adverbs investigated have a preposition in their synchronic morphological make-up which denotes a relation between two entities: some adverbs contain both a preposition and a morpheme from another word class, e.g. comparativement and subséquemment, while others contain only a preposition, e.g. antérieurement and postérieurement. A very small subset does not contain a preposition, but only a single adverb morpheme which denotes the relation in question, so, for instance, the adjectives par and similis, which have formed pareillement and semblablement, denote a relation between two relata. From an etymological perspective, a few adverbs, such as latéralement, do not denote a relation – so it is only through the formal realisation of the preposition phrase that the relation is established. The dissertation maps the etymological and morphological structure of the adverb and the range of functions that the adverb and its valents can have at clausal and phrasal level. The function of the adverb is relevant to the extent that the function affects its semantics and its valency structure. The effect of function is seen in some adverbs when they operate on clausal or on phrasal level and in other adverbs when they modify entire clauses or just the verb