def _genBgTerm_fromXX(self,vTot,vCommon,XX,a=None,c=None):
        """
        generate background term from SNPs

        Args:
            vTot: variance of Yc+Yi
            vCommon: variance of Yc
            XX: kinship matrix
            a: common scales, it can be set for debugging purposes
            c: indipendent scales, it can be set for debugging purposes
        """
        vSpecific = vTot-vCommon

        SP.random.seed(0)
        if c==None: c = SP.randn(self.P)
        XX += 1e-3 * SP.eye(XX.shape[0])
        L = LA.cholesky(XX,lower=True)

        # common effect
        R = self.genWeights(self.N,self.P)
        A = self.genTraitEffect()
        if a is not None: A[0,:] = a
        Yc = SP.dot(L,SP.dot(R,A))
        Yc*= SP.sqrt(vCommon)/SP.sqrt(Yc.var(0).mean())

        # specific effect
        R = SP.randn(self.N,self.P)
        Yi = SP.dot(L,SP.dot(R,SP.diag(c)))
        Yi*= SP.sqrt(vSpecific)/SP.sqrt(Yi.var(0).mean())

        return Yc, Yi