Clemson University

About: Clemson University is a education organization based out in Clemson, South Carolina, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Control theory. The organization has 20556 authors who have published 42518 publications receiving 1170779 citations. The organization is also known as: Clemson Agricultural College of South Carolina.

The high-quality draft genome of peach ( Prunus persica ) identifies unique patterns of genetic diversity, domestication and genome evolution

Abstract: Rosaceae is the most important fruit-producing clade, and its key commercially relevant genera (Fragaria, Rosa, Rubus and Prunus) show broadly diverse growth habits, fruit types and compact diploid genomes. Peach, a diploid Prunus species, is one of the best genetically characterized deciduous trees. Here we describe the high-quality genome sequence of peach obtained from a completely homozygous genotype. We obtained a complete chromosome-scale assembly using Sanger whole-genome shotgun methods. We predicted 27,852 protein-coding genes, as well as noncoding RNAs. We investigated the path of peach domestication through whole-genome resequencing of 14 Prunus accessions. The analyses suggest major genetic bottlenecks that have substantially shaped peach genome diversity. Furthermore, comparative analyses showed that peach has not undergone recent whole-genome duplication, and even though the ancestral triplicated blocks in peach are fragmentary compared to those in grape, all seven paleosets of paralogs from the putative paleoancestor are detectable.

Assessing the unidimensionality of measurement : a paradigm and illustration within the context of information systems research

Abstract: The development and psychometric evaluation of scales which measure unobservable (latent) phenomena continues to be an issue of high interest among researchers within the information systems community. Accurate measurement of structurally complex constructs provides a potentially powerful means for empirically exploring relationships between information technology and individual, organizational, and industrial phenomena. In exploratory contexts, measurement properties of psychometric scales are evaluated using traditional techniques such as item-to-total correlations, reliability analysis, and exploratory factor analysis. In instances of strong theoretical rationale, contemporary techniques, such as confirmatory factor analysis, are utilized as a means of assessing model efficacy. An essential, but often overlooked, property of measurement which is assumed in both exploratory and confirmatory statistical techniques is unidimensionality. Scales which are unidimensional measure a single trait. This property is a basic assumption of measurement theory and is absolutely essential for unconfounded assessment of variable interrelationships in path modeling. In this paper, a paradigm for developing unidimensional scales is presented and illustrated. Built on similar frameworks within the disciplines of psychology, education and marketing research, this paradigm is offered as a means of formally defining unidimensionality, distinguishing the concept from traditional reliability-based metrics, and describing a structured technique for empirically testing its existence.