Agricultural and Biological Sciences

This paper presents a critique of expected utility theory as a descriptive model of decision making under risk, and develops an alternative model, called prospect theory. Choices among risky prospects exhibit several pervasive effects that are inconsistent with the basic tenets of utility theory. In particular, people underweight outcomes that are merely probable in comparison with outcomes that are obtained with certainty. This tendency, called the certainty effect, contributes to risk aversion in choices involving sure gains and to risk seeking in choices involving sure losses. In addition, people generally discard components that are shared by all prospects under consideration. This tendency, called the isolation effect, leads to inconsistent preferences when the same choice is presente

One possible reason for the continued neglect of statistical power analysis in research in the behavioral sciences is the inaccessibility of or difficulty with the standard material. A convenient, although not comprehensive, presentation of required sample sizes is provided here. Effect-size indexes and conventional values for these are given for operationally defined small, medium, and large effects. The sample sizes necessary for .80 power to detect effects at these levels are tabled for eight standard statistical tests: (a) the difference between independent means, (b) the significance of a product-moment correlation, (c) the difference between independent rs, (d) the sign test, (e) the difference between independent proportions, (f) chi-square tests for goodness of fit and contingency

We announce the release of the fourth version of MEGA software, which expands on the existing facilities for editing DNA sequence data from autosequencers, mining Web-databases, performing automatic and manual sequence alignment, analyzing sequence alignments to estimate evolutionary distances, inferring phylogenetic trees, and testing evolutionary hypotheses. Version 4 includes a unique facility to generate captions, written in figure legend format, in order to provide natural language descriptions of the models and methods used in the analyses. This facility aims to promote a better understanding of the underlying assumptions used in analyses, and of the results generated. Another new feature is the Maximum Composite Likelihood (MCL) method for estimating evolutionary distances between a

There is a need to standardize the NDF procedure. Procedures have varied because of the use of different amylases in attempts to remove starch interference. The original Bacillus subtilis enzyme Type IIIA (XIA) no longer is available and has been replaced by a less effective enzyme. For fiber work, a new enzyme has received AOAC approval and is rapidly displacing other amylases in analytical work. This enzyme is available from Sigma (Number A3306; Sigma Chemical Co., St. Louis, MO). The original publications for NDF and ADF (43, 53) and the Agricultural Handbook 379 (14) are obsolete and of historical interest only. Up to date procedures should be followed. Triethylene glycol has replaced 2-ethoxyethanol because of reported toxicity. Considerable development in regard to fiber methods has

Large phylogenomics data sets require fast tree inference methods, especially for maximum-likelihood (ML) phylogenies. Fast programs exist, but due to inherent heuristics to find optimal trees, it is not clear whether the best tree is found. Thus, there is need for additional approaches that employ different search strategies to find ML trees and that are at the same time as fast as currently available ML programs. We show that a combination of hill-climbing approaches and a stochastic perturbation method can be time-efficiently implemented. If we allow the same CPU time as RAxML and PhyML, then our software IQ-TREE found higher likelihoods between 62.2% and 87.1% of the studied alignments, thus efficiently exploring the tree-space. If we use the IQ-TREE stopping rule, RAxML and PhyML are

Core text in attitude courses. Explains theory and reasoned action model and then applies the model to various cases.

The methodology used to construct tree structured rules is the focus of this monograph. Unlike many other statistical procedures, which moved from pencil and paper to calculators, this text's use of trees was unthinkable before computers. Both the practical and theoretical sides have been developed in the authors' study of tree methods. Classification and Regression Trees reflects these two sides, covering the use of trees as a data analysis method, and in a more mathematical framework, proving some of their fundamental properties.

Abstract Since the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) 18 years ago, a large number of SARS-related coronaviruses (SARSr-CoVs) have been discovered in their natural reservoir host, bats 1–4 . Previous studies have shown that some bat SARSr-CoVs have the potential to infect humans 5–7 . Here we report the identification and characterization of a new coronavirus (2019-nCoV), which caused an epidemic of acute respiratory syndrome in humans in Wuhan, China. The epidemic, which started on 12 December 2019, had caused 2,794 laboratory-confirmed infections including 80 deaths by 26 January 2020. Full-length genome sequences were obtained from five patients at an early stage of the outbreak. The sequences are almost identical and share 79.6% sequence identity to SARS-CoV. Furtherm

BACKGROUND: RNA-Seq is revolutionizing the way transcript abundances are measured. A key challenge in transcript quantification from RNA-Seq data is the handling of reads that map to multiple genes or isoforms. This issue is particularly important for quantification with de novo transcriptome assemblies in the absence of sequenced genomes, as it is difficult to determine which transcripts are isoforms of the same gene. A second significant issue is the design of RNA-Seq experiments, in terms of the number of reads, read length, and whether reads come from one or both ends of cDNA fragments. RESULTS: We present RSEM, an user-friendly software package for quantifying gene and isoform abundances from single-end or paired-end RNA-Seq data. RSEM outputs abundance estimates, 95% credibility inte

The Agrobacterium vacuum infiltration method has made it possible to transform Arabidopsis thaliana without plant tissue culture or regeneration. In the present study, this method was evaluated and a substantially modified transformation method was developed. The labor-intensive vacuum infiltration process was eliminated in favor of simple dipping of developing floral tissues into a solution containing Agrobacterium tumefaciens, 5% sucrose and 500 microliters per litre of surfactant Silwet L-77. Sucrose and surfactant were critical to the success of the floral dip method. Plants inoculated when numerous immature floral buds and few siliques were present produced transformed progeny at the highest rate. Plant tissue culture media, the hormone benzylamino purine and pH adjustment were unnece

(First edition: 1998, this reprint: 2004). This publication presents an updated procedure for calculating reference and crop evapotranspiration from meteorological data and crop coefficients. The procedure, first presented in FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper No. 24, Crop water requirements, in 1977, allows estimation of the amount of water used by a crop, taking into account the effect of the climate and the crop characteristics. The publication incorporates advances in research and more accurate procedures for determining crop water use as recommended by a panel of high-level experts organised by FAO in May 1990. The first part of the guidelines includes procedures for determining reference crop evapotranspiration according to the FAO Penman-Monteith method. These are followed by updated

<b><i>Background and Objectives:</i></b> There is a substantial body of evidence assessing the effects of equine-assisted therapy on physiological and psychological aspects of individuals with disabilities. This study aimed to evaluate the physiological benefits of this alternative therapy for children with cerebral palsy (CP) by means of a systematic review and meta-analysis. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> This systematic review included all randomized and nonrandomized clinical trials of hippotherapy (HT), therapeutic horse riding (THR), and artificial saddle (AS) for the treatment of children with CP by a systematic search in Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library, and other databases up to November 2012. Articles were assessed for inclusion eligibilit

Elements of Experimentation. Single-Factor Experiments. Two-Factor Experiments. Three-or More-Factor Experiments. Comparison Between Treatment Means. Analysis of Multiobservation Data. Problem Data. Analysis of Data from a Series of Experiments. Regression and Correlation Analysis. Covariance Analysis. Chi-Square Test. Soil Heterogeneity. Competition Effects. Mechanical Errors. Sampling in Experimental Plots. Experiments in Farmers' Fields. Presentation of Experimental Results. Appendices. Index.

<p>This data set was collected to examine the eHealth Literacy Scale as a means of assessing eHealth literacy among German athletes. In this context, we pursued two objectives with this study: first, to test the factorial structure of the GR-eHEALS and assess its construct validity by examining both convergent and discriminant validity; and second, to examine the associations between eHealth literacy and health-related outcomes (i.e., substance use and injuries). This digital survey was conducted as a cross-sectional study, adhering to the approval guidelines of the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Duisburg-Essen (19-8947-BO). Prior to the survey, each participant provided electronic informed consent. Participation was both anonymous and voluntary, wit

The increase in the number of large data sets and the complexity of current probabilistic sequence evolution models necessitates fast and reliable phylogeny reconstruction methods. We describe a new approach, based on the maximum- likelihood principle, which clearly satisfies these requirements. The core of this method is a simple hill-climbing algorithm that adjusts tree topology and branch lengths simultaneously. This algorithm starts from an initial tree built by a fast distance-based method and modifies this tree to improve its likelihood at each iteration. Due to this simultaneous adjustment of the topology and branch lengths, only a few iterations are sufficient to reach an optimum. We used extensive and realistic computer simulations to show that the topological accuracy of this new

Abstract genalex is a user‐friendly cross‐platform package that runs within Microsoft Excel, enabling population genetic analyses of codominant, haploid and binary data. Allele frequency‐based analyses include heterozygosity, F statistics, Nei's genetic distance, population assignment, probabilities of identity and pairwise relatedness. Distance‐based calculations include amova , principal coordinates analysis (PCA), Mantel tests, multivariate and 2D spatial autocorrelation and twogener . More than 20 different graphs summarize data and aid exploration. Sequence and genotype data can be imported from automated sequencers, and exported to other software. Initially designed as tool for teaching, genalex 6 now offers features for researchers as well. Documentation and the program are availabl

Journal Article A Method of Computing the Effectiveness of an Insecticide Get access W. S. Abbott W. S. Abbott Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 18, Issue 2, 1 April 1925, Pages 265–267, https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/18.2.265a Published: 01 April 1925

We describe "universal" DNA primers for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification of a 710-bp fragment of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I gene (COI) from 11 invertebrate phyla: Echinodermata, Mollusca, Annelida, Pogonophora, Arthropoda, Nemertinea, Echiura, Sipuncula, Platyhelminthes, Tardigrada, and Coelenterata, as well as the putative phylum Vestimentifera. Preliminary comparisons revealed that these COI primers generate informative sequences for phylogenetic analyses at the species and higher taxonomic levels.

Journal Article GENEPOP (Version 1.2): Population Genetics Software for Exact Tests and Ecumenicism Get access M. Raymond, M. Raymond Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, URA CNRS 327, Laboratoire de Genetique et Environnement, Universite de Montpellier II (CC 065)Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 05, France Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar F. Rousset F. Rousset Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution, URA CNRS 327, Laboratoire de Genetique et Environnement, Universite de Montpellier II (CC 065)Place E. Bataillon, 34095 Montpellier cedex 05, France Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Heredity, Volume 86, Issue 3, May 1995, Pages 248–249, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.jhere

Observations probability sampling from a normal distribution comparisons involving two sample means principles of experimental design analysis of variance I - the one-way classification mutiple comparisons analysis of variance II - multiway classification linear regression linear correlation matrix notation linear regression in matrix notation multiple and partial regression and correlation analysis of variance III - factorial experiments analysis of variance analysis of covariance IV analysis of covariance analysis of variance V - unequal subclass numbers some uses of chi-square enumeration data I - one-way classifications enumeration data II - contingency tables categorical models some discrete distributions nonparametric statistics sampling finite populations.