Tag: nevin manimala

Phys Rev Lett. 2023 May 19;130(20):207101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.207101.

ABSTRACT

We study a one-dimensional gas of N Brownian particles that diffuse independently, but are simultaneously reset to the origin at a constant rate r. The system approaches a nonequilibrium stationary state with long-range interactions induced by the simultaneous resetting. Despite the presence of strong correlations, we show that several observables can be computed exactly, which include the global average density, the distribution of the position of the kth rightmost particle, and the spacing distribution between two successive particles. Our analytical results are confirmed by numerical simulations. We also discuss a possible experimental realization of this resetting gas using optical traps.

PMID:37267543 | DOI:10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.207101

Ann Bot. 2023 Jun 2:mcad065. doi: 10.1093/aob/mcad065. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Cultivated bananas resulted from inter-(sub-)specific hybridizations involving Musa species and subspecies (M. acuminata subspecies, M. schizocarpa, M. balbisiana) and the subsequent selection, centuries ago, of hybrids with parthenocarpic, seedless fruits. Cultivars have low fertility and are vegetatively propagated, forming groups of somaclones. Relatively few of them, mainly triploids, are grown on a large scale and characterization of their parental relationships may be useful for breeding strategies. Here, we investigate parental relationships and gamete-type contributions among diploid and polyploid banana cultivars.

METHODS: We used SNP genotyping data from whole genome sequencing of 178 banana individuals including 111 cultivars, 55 wild bananas and 12 synthetic F1 hybrids. We analysed the proportion of SNP sites in accordance with direct parentage with a global statistic and along chromosomes for selected individuals.

KEY RESULTS: We characterised parentage relationships for seven diploid, eleven triploid and one tetraploid cultivars. Results showed that both diploid and triploid cultivars could have contributed gametes to other banana cultivars. Diploids may have contributed 1x or 2x gametes and triploids, 1x to 3x gametes. The Mchare diploid cultivars group nowadays only found in East Africa, was found as parent of 2 diploid and 8 triploid cultivars. In five of its identified triploid offspring, corresponding to main export or locally popular dessert bananas, Mchare contributed a 2x gamete with full genome restitution without recombination. Analyses of remaining haplotypes in these Mchare offspring suggested ancestral pedigree relationships between different interspecific banana cultivars.

CONCLUSIONS: Current cultivated banana resulted from different pathways of formation, with implication of recombined or un-recombined unreduced gametes produced by diploid or triploid cultivars. Identification of dessert banana’s parents and the type of their contributed gametes should support the design of breeding strategies.

PMID:37267450 | DOI:10.1093/aob/mcad065

J Speech Lang Hear Res. 2023 Jun 2:1-17. doi: 10.1044/2023_JSLHR-22-00572. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Previous studies have shown that individuals with congenital amusia exhibit deficient pitch processing across music and language domains. This study investigated whether adult Chinese-speaking listeners with amusia were still able to learn Thai lexical tones based on stimulus frequency of statistical distribution via distributional learning, despite their degraded lexical tone perception.

METHOD: Following a pretest-training-posttest design, 21 amusics and 23 typical, musically intact listeners were assigned into bimodal and unimodal distribution conditions. Listeners were asked to discriminate minimal pairs of Thai mid-level tone and falling tone superimposed on variable base syllables and uttered by different speakers. The perceptual accuracy for each test session and improvement from pretest to posttest were collected and analyzed between the two groups using generalized mixed-effects models.

RESULTS: When discriminating Thai lexical tones, amusics were less accurate than typical listeners. Nonetheless, similarly to control listeners, perceptual gains from pretest to posttest were observed in bimodally rather than unimodally trained amusics, as evidenced by both trained and nontrained test words.

CONCLUSIONS: Amusics are able to learn lexical tones in a second or foreign context of speech. This extends previous research by showing that amusics’ distributional learning of linguistic pitch remains largely preserved despite their degraded pitch processing. It is thus likely that manifestations of amusia in speech could not result from their abnormal statistical learning mechanism. This study meanwhile provides a heuristic approach for future studies to apply this paradigm into amusics’ treatment to mitigate their pitch-processing disorder.

PMID:37267445 | DOI:10.1044/2023_JSLHR-22-00572

PLoS One. 2023 Jun 2;18(6):e0285699. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285699. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to explore the impact of housing investment on household entrepreneurship. Using survey data from China and employing a Probit model, we examine three aspects of housing status and innovatively subdivide household entrepreneurship into agricultural entrepreneurship and business entrepreneurship. The results show that households with higher housing investment are less likely to become agricultural entrepreneurs, but more likely to start a new business. Households with full-owned housing enjoy a higher likelihood to become business entrepreneurs. However, other ownerships have no relation with the choice of entrepreneurship. More housing loans discourage entrepreneurial activities. One exception is that bank loan raises the chance of being agricultural entrepreneurs. Households who build their own houses have a higher agricultural entrepreneurship. Buying market price houses encourages households to be business entrepreneurs. Low-price house and inherited house prevent households from being business entrepreneurs.

PMID:37267400 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0285699

PLoS One. 2023 Jun 2;18(6):e0286182. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286182. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

Considering the pharmacological treatment options for endometriosis-associated pain are confined to hormonal therapy and analgesics, we studied the analgesic effect of 20 mg melatonin as an adjuvant therapy in women with endometriosis-associated pain. This randomized double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial was conducted at the Research Center for Womens’ Health at Södersjukhuset, a university hospital in Stockholm, Sweden. Forty women from 18 to 50 years of age with endometriosis and severe dysmenorrhea with or without chronic pelvic pain were given 20 mg Melatonin or placebo orally daily for two consecutive menstrual cycles or months. The level of pain was recorded daily on the 11-point numeric rating scale, a difference of 1.3 units was considered clinically significant. Clincaltrials.gov nr NCT03782740. Sixteen participants completed the study in the placebo group and 18 in the melatonin group. The difference in endometriosis-associated pain between the groups showed to be non-significant statistically as well as clinically, 2.9 (SD 1.9) in the melatonin group and 3.3 (SD 2.0) in the placebo group, p = 0.45. This randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial could not show that 20 mg of melatonin given orally at bedtime had better analgesic effect on endometriosis-associated pain compared with placebo. No adverse effects were observed.

PMID:37267394 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0286182

PLoS One. 2023 Jun 2;18(6):e0286299. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286299. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

Morphological characterization of Animal Genetic Resources is the first step to documenting diversity and designing breed specific breeding programs. The current study characterized the morpho-biometric variation of indigenous chicken ecotypes prevailing in northwestern Ethiopia. A multi-stage purposive, stratified, and random sampling method was employed to select the study areas and chickens. A total of 1200 adult chickens were sampled and characterized for 12 qualitative and 11 quantitative traits. Univariate and multivariate data analysis methods were employed to analyze the data using SAS and R statistical software. Red plumage colour (33.2%), white and red earlobe colour (73.8%) and yellow shank colour (57.0%) were the most predominant colour trait categories. Sex, agro-ecology, location, and the interaction of sex and location had a highly significant (p<0.001) effect on all body measurements. Shank traits were found to have the highest discriminating power in both sexes. The overall classification rates for the female and male sample populations were 57.47% and 69.97%, respectively. The squared Mahalanobis distances between sites were significant (p<0.001) for both sexes. The longest distance was obtained between North Achefer and Banja (19.25) and between North Achefer and Dembecha (16.80) in female and male chickens, respectively. In female chickens, canonical variates 1 (CAN 1) and 2 (CAN 2) explained 82% of total variation and distinctly separated the sample populations of North Achefer and Jawi from others. In male chickens, 90% of the total variance is explained by CAN1, CAN2, and CAN3, which distinctly separate the sample populations of the North Achefer, Sinan, and Jawi, among others. Using cluster analysis, the indigenous chickens found in the study area could be classified into four ecotypes: ecotype 1 (Banja, Dembecha, and Aneded), ecotype 2 (North Achefer), ecotype 3 (Sinan), and ecotype 4 (Jawi).

PMID:37267393 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0286299

PLoS One. 2023 Jun 2;18(6):e0285720. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0285720. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

The manufacturing sector’s adherence to managing natural resources from the environment still needs to be improved. This study’s objective is to determine how Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) influences the financial performance of manufacturing firms featured in the LQ45 Index, as measured by Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), and Net Profit Margin (NPM). All manufacturing companies that are included in the LQ45 Index’s population for this study were sampled using the purposive sampling method. This study uses secondary data from the CSRI based on the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) G4 standard for 2018-2020 and the annual reports of companies in the manufacturing industry sector listed on the LQ45 Index. Moreover, applying a quantitative methodology, descriptive statistical methods, conventional assumption tests, and simple linear regression analysis were applied in this study’s data analysis. The results of the study proved that CSR has a significant effect on ROA but does not affect the ROE and NPM of LQ45 manufacturing companies. In accordance with the signaling theory, CSR disclosure sends a favourable message to outsiders, which stakeholders and shareholders will respond to through changes in business earnings. CSR implementation can establish a positive image for the company, but it can also improve the company’s image in both the commodity and capital markets. Investors will be more attracted to a company with a positive corporate image since a positive corporate image increases consumer loyalty. As consumer loyalty rises, the company’s sales will likewise rise, and its profitability will increase as a result. This paper opens a new research path in corporate social responsibility and financial performance for possible links among variables; a matter that has not been previously explored in Indonesia Manufacturing Public Companies.

PMID:37267373 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0285720

PLoS One. 2023 Jun 2;18(6):e0286599. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286599. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

To reduce the genome sequence representation, restriction site-associated DNA sequencing (RAD-seq) protocols is being widely used either with single-digest or double-digest methods. In this study, we genotyped the sesame population (48 sample size) in a pilot scale to compare single and double-digest RAD-seq (sd and ddRAD-seq) methods. We analysed the resulting short-read data generated from both protocols and assessed their performance impacting the downstream analysis using various parameters. The distinct k-mer count and gene presence absence variation (PAV) showed a significant difference between the sesame samples studied. Additionally, the variant calling from both datasets (sdRAD-seq and ddRAD-seq) exhibits a significant difference between them. The combined variants from both datasets helped in identifying the most diverse samples and possible sub-groups in the sesame population. The most diverse samples identified from each analysis (k-mer, gene PAV, SNP count, Heterozygosity, NJ and PCA) can possibly be representative samples holding major diversity of the small sesame population used in this study. The best possible strategies with suggested inputs for modifications to utilize the RAD-seq strategy efficiently on a large dataset containing thousands of samples to be subjected to molecular analysis like diversity, population structure and core development studies were discussed.

PMID:37267340 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0286599

PLoS One. 2023 Jun 2;18(6):e0286624. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286624. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

Advances in observational and computational assets have led to revolutions in the range and quality of results in many science and engineering settings. However, those advances have led to needs for new research in treating model errors and assessing their impacts. We consider two settings. The first involves physically-based statistical models that are sufficiently manageable to allow incorporation of a stochastic “model error process”. In the second case we consider large-scale models in which incorporation of a model error process and updating its distribution is impractical. Our suggestion is to treat dimension-reduced model output as if it is observational data, with a data model that incorporates a bias component to represent the impacts of model error. We believe that our suggestions are valuable quantitative, yet relatively simple, ways to extract useful information from models while including adjustment for model error. These ideas are illustrated and assessed using an application inspired by a classical oceanographic problem.

PMID:37267337 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0286624

PLoS One. 2023 Jun 2;18(6):e0286250. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0286250. eCollection 2023.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: To report a long-term outcome of the novel combined surgical method of complete excision, corneal tattooing, and a sutureless limbal conjunctival autograft for limbal dermoid.

METHODS: All patients who were referred to our clinic for limbal dermoid, and underwent a combined surgery of complete excision, corneal tattooing, and a sutureless limbal conjunctival autograft were retrospectively reviewed. The surgery was performed by one surgeon, and all clinical information was obtained during a seven-year follow up period. In all patients, surgical outcomes of cosmesis, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), spherical equivalent (SE), and corneal/ocular astigmatism were obtained and compared preoperatively and postoperatively.

RESULTS: During seven years, 24 patients (24 eyes) with limbal dermoid were finally enrolled. The mean age was 10.1±8.9 years old. The surgery resulted in an improved appearing ocular surface in all cases without any complications. There was no statistical difference in BCVA, corneal and ocular astigmatism between preoperatively and postoperatively (p = 0.231, 0.156 and 0.475, respectively). The mean SE was 0.12±3.19D preoperatively, and -0.21±3.02 D postoperatively with statistical significance (p = 0.037). Mean follow up period was 54.50 ± 15.62 months.

CONCLUSIONS: Based on the results of this study, our innovative surgical method which includes complete excision with corneal tattooing and limbal conjunctival autograft can be a simple and safe procedure that achieves long standing cosmesis with limbal dermoids.

PMID:37267334 | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0286250