A Method of Utilizing Accounting Records for Nurseries Producing Field Grown Stock

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Self-Distancing as a Persuasive Amplifier for Increasing Help-Seeking among People with Depression

People with high levels of depressive symptomatology report less favorable attitudes toward help-seeking and reduced help-seeking intentions than people with lower levels of depressive symptomatology. While some attempts to persuade people with depression to seek help have been successful, others have failed. Preliminary research using both perspective-taking and mental time-travel self-distancing writing tasks have shown potential. However, a video that asked people to think, rather than write, about help-seeking from a distanced perspective failed to increase help-seeking outcomes. This dissertation tests a new approach where participants are prompted to take a self-distanced approach while watching existing help-seeking video messages. In these two studies self-distancing is used as a persuasive amplifier to boost the effectiveness of help-seeking messages. In study 1, participants were instructed to view a video Depression Public Service Advertisement (D-PSA) either from the perspective of their current self (immersive condition) or from the perspective of an objective other (distancing condition). Help-seeking attitudes, help-seeking intentions, and the negativity of thoughts in response to the D-PSAs were measured. The results of study 1 showed that viewing the D-PSA from a self-distanced perspective improved help-seeking attitudes in comparison to the immersive and control condition, and reduced negative thoughts compared to the immersive condition. Additionally, a significant interaction between depression symptomatology and self-distancing was found, such that self-distancing’s positive impact on attitudes was stronger at higher levels of depression. In study 2, participants were randomly assigned to one of two self-distancing conditions, or a control condition. The perspective-taking condition replicated the self-distancing condition from study 1. The mental time-travel condition asked participants to view the message from the point of view of their future self, 10 years into the future. Results of study 2 show that self-distancing through perspective-taking improved help-seeking attitudes, increased help-seeking intentions, and reduced negative thought content compared to a control. Self-distancing through mental time-travel reduced negative thought content compared to the control condition. For both perspective-taking and mental time-travel conditions, self-distancing’s effect on help-seeking intentions was mediated through reduced negativity and improved attitudes. These two studies indicate that placing a short instruction request to view a video from a self-distanced perspective amplified the influence of current help-seeking D-PSAs on help-seeking for depression. Adding a self-distancing persuasive amplifier prior to messages may have potential utility for PSA’s in other domains as well

Estimation of Selected Milk Protein Genetic Variants by Multi-Component Analysis of Amino Acid Profiles

Cation-exchange fast protein liquid chromatography separated whole casein into β-casein A2, A1, and B, K-casein, αs1-casein, and αs2-casein fractions as well as γ-caseins and several unidentified peaks using a urea-acetate buffer at pH 5 and a NaCl gradient. The whole casein fractions eluted in the following order: breakdown products of β-casein and unidentified peaks; β-casein A2, Al, and B; additional breakdown products of β-casein and unidentified peaks; K-casein; αs1-casein; and αs2-casein. The calculated composition of the four major caseins correlated well with values obtained using anion-exchange fast protein liquid chromatography at pH 7. An acid-PAGE gel confirmed that the three β-casein peaks were variants of β-casein. Incubating herd bulk whole casein with neuraminidase (EC 3.2.1.18) removed carbohydrate from K-casein. Anion-exchange fast protein liquid chromatography separated whole casein into β-casein breakdown products, K-casein A and B, β-casein, αs2-casein, and αs1-casein peaks as well as three unidentified fractions using bis-Tris-propane-urea buffer at pH 7 and a NaCl gradient. Fractions of whole casein eluted in the following order: breakdown products of β-casein and unidentified fractions A and B; K-casein fraction; unidentified C fraction; β-casein; αs2-casein; and αs1-casein. Following treatment with neuraminidase, K-casein eluted as K-casein B and A rather than a series of peaks. Casein samples from individual cows containing known combinations of K-casein A and B confirmed that the peaks were K-casein variants. Isoelectric focusing on a PhastSystem™ separated K-casein A and B; β-casein A1, A2, A3, and B; αs1-casein Band C; β-lactoglobulin A and B; αs2-casein A; and α-lactalbumin B. Minimal preparation and a short separation time enabled many whole milk and whole casein samples to be phenotyped daily. Stepwise regression equations derived to predict samples as homozygous or heterozygous for K-casein A and B and β-casein A1, A2, and B had coefficient of determination values of .18, .58, .82, and .72 for K-casein A and B, β-casein A1, β-casein A2, and β-casein B. Although amino acid analysis can identify whether β-casein A1, A2, or B variants are present, it cannot identify whether K-casein A and B variants are present. Percentages of K-casein, β-casein, αs1-casein, and αs2-casein obtained with isoelectric focusing, cation-exchange fast protein liquid chromatography, and anion-exchange fast protein liquid chromatography compare well with published results. Isoelectric focusing and anion-exchange fast protein liquid chromatography methods separated K-casein into its A and B variants. Isoelectric focusing and cation-exchange fast protein liquid chromatography separated β-casein into its A1, A2, and B variants. Individual cows homozygous for K-casein A or B expressed the same amount of K-casein. When results from individual cows heterozygous for K-casein are combined, the two alleles are expressed equally; on an individual cow basis, however, some cows expressed more K-casein B than K-casein A. Individual cows homozygous for β-casein A1, A2 or B expressed the same amount of β-casein. When the results for individual cows heterozygous for β-casein are combined, the two β-casein alleles are expressed equally. In milk from individual cows typed β-casein A2B, slightly more B than A2 was expressed with cation-exchange fast protein liquid chromatography

LHC Forward Physics

The goal of this report is to give a comprehensive overview of the rich field of forward physics, with a special attention to the topics that can be studied at the LHC. The report starts presenting a selection of the Monte Carlo simulation tools currently available, chapter 2, then enters the rich phenomenology of QCD at low, chapter 3, and high, chapter 4, momentum transfer, while the unique scattering conditions of central exclusive production are analyzed in chapter 5. The last two experimental topics, Cosmic Ray and Heavy Ion physics are presented in the chapter 6 and 7 respectively. Chapter 8 is dedicated to the BFKL dynamics, multiparton interactions, and saturation. The report ends with an overview of the forward detectors at LHC. Each chapter is correlated with a comprehensive bibliography, attempting to provide to the interested reader with a wide opportunity for further studies.Peer Reviewe

Localized Deformation in Ni-Mn-Ga Single Crystals

The magnetomechanical behavior of ferromagnetic shape memory alloys such as Ni-Mn-Ga, and hence the relationship between structure and nanoscale magnetomechanical properties, is of interest for their potential applications in actuators. Furthermore, due to its crystal structure, the behavior of Ni-Mn-Ga is anisotropic. Accordingly, nanoindentation and magnetic force microscopy were used to probe the nanoscale mechanical and magnetic properties of electropolished single crystalline 10M martensitic Ni-Mn-Ga as a function of the crystallographic c-axis (easy magnetization) direction relative to the indentation surface (i.e., c-axis in-plane versus out-of-plane). Load-displacement curves from 5–10 mN indentations on in-plane regions exhibited pop-in during loading, whereas this phenomenon was absent in out-of-plane regions. Additionally, the reduced elastic modulus measured for the c-axis out-of-plane orientation was ∼50% greater than for in-plane. Although heating above the transition temperature to the austenitic phase followed by cooling to the room temperature martensitic phase led to partial recovery of the indentation deformation, the magnitude and direction of recovery depended on the original relative orientation of the crystallographic c-axis: positive recovery for the in-plane orientation versus negative recovery (i.e., increased indent depth) for out-of-plane. Moreover, the c-axis orientation for out-of-plane regions switched to in-plane upon thermal cycling, whereas the number of twins in the in-plane regions increased. We hypothesize that dislocation plasticity contributes to the permanent deformation, while pseudoelastic twinning causes pop-in during loading and large recovery during unloading in the c-axis in-plane case. Minimization of indent strain energy accounts for the observed changes in twin orientation and number following thermal cycling

Regression Discontinuity Designs with Clustered Data

Regression discontinuity designs have become popular in empirical studies due to their attractive properties for estimating causal effects under transparent assumptions. Nonetheless, most popular procedures assume i.i.d. data, which is unreasonable in many common applications. To fill this gap, we derive the properties of traditional local polynomial estimators in a fixed- setting that allows for cluster dependence in the error term. Simulation results demonstrate that accounting for clustering in the data while selecting bandwidths may lead to lower MSE while maintaining proper coverage. We then apply our cluster-robust procedure to an application examining the impact of Low-Income Housing Tax Credits on neighborhood characteristics and low-income housing supply

Self-Rated Mental Health, School Adjustment, and Substance Use in Hard-of-Hearing Adolescents

This survey, “Life and Health—Young People 2005,” included all 15/16-year-old adolescents in mainstream schools in the county of Örebro, Sweden. Just students with a slight/mild or moderate hearing loss were included. There were 56 (1.9%) “hard-of-hearing (HH) students with multiple disabilities,” 93 (3.1%) students who were “just HH,” 282 (9.7%) students with some “other disability than HH,” and 2,488 (85.2%) students with “no disability.” “HH with multiple disabilities” reported considerably higher scores for mental symptoms, substance use, and school problems than the “no disability” group. Those with “just HH” and those with “other disability than HH” had more mental symptoms and school problems than the “no disability” group but no significant differences in substance use. In conclusion, the combination of a hearing loss and some other disability strongly increases the risk for mental symptoms, school problems, and substance use. This group, thus, is an important target for preventive measures

Measurement of the quasi-elastic axial vector mass in neutrino-oxygen interactions

The weak nucleon axial-vector form factor for quasi-elastic interactions is determined using neutrino interaction data from the K2K Scintillating Fiber detector in the neutrino beam at KEK. More than 12,000 events are analyzed, of which half are charged-current quasi-elastic interactions nu-mu n to mu- p occurring primarily in oxygen nuclei. We use a relativistic Fermi gas model for oxygen and assume the form factor is approximately a dipole with one parameter, the axial vector mass M_A, and fit to the shape of the distribution of the square of the momentum transfer from the nucleon to the nucleus. Our best fit result for M_A = 1.20 \pm 0.12 GeV. Furthermore, this analysis includes updated vector form factors from recent electron scattering experiments and a discussion of the effects of the nucleon momentum on the shape of the fitted distributions.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 6 table

Measurement of Branching Fraction and Dalitz Distribution for B0->D(*)+/- K0 pi-/+ Decays

We present measurements of the branching fractions for the three-body decays B0 -> D(*)-/+ K0 pi^+/-$and their resonant submodes$B0 -> D(*)-/+ K*+/- using a sample of approximately 88 million BBbar pairs collected by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric energy storage ring. We measure: B(B0->D-/+ K0 pi+/-)=(4.9 +/- 0.7(stat) +/- 0.5 (syst)) 10^{-4} B(B0->D*-/+ K0 pi+/-)=(3.0 +/- 0.7(stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) 10^{-4} B(B0->D-/+ K*+/-)=(4.6 +/- 0.6(stat) +/- 0.5 (syst)) 10^{-4} B(B0->D*-/+ K*+/-)=(3.2 +/- 0.6(stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) 10^{-4} From these measurements we determine the fractions of resonant events to be : f(B0-> D-/+ K*+/-) = 0.63 +/- 0.08(stat) +/- 0.04(syst) f(B0-> D*-/+ K*+/-) = 0.72 +/- 0.14(stat) +/- 0.05(syst)Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures submitted to Phys. Rev. Let