Determinants of the competitive advantage of dairy supply chains: Evidence from the Chinese dairy industry

In this study, we use an evidence-based approach to examine the factors that determine the competitive advantage of dairy supply chains using evidence from the Chinese dairy industry. We focus on the quality assurance of dairy products, which is considered one of the fundamental influential factors. We investigate interrelationships among the identified determinants, which include dairy production behavior, dairy cow culture model, government regulations, corporate social responsibility, and quality assurance, and examine how these determinants influence the competitive advantage of dairy supply chains. We employ the structural equation modeling approach in which grouped observable variables that represent the identified determinants are extrapolated from primary data collected through a questionnaire survey. Our key findings show that by mediating the effects of dairy production behavior and the dairy cow culture model, government regulation and corporate social responsibility significantly affect the quality assurance of dairy products. In turn, dairy production behavior and the dairy cow culture model significantly affect the competitive advantage of the dairy supply chain via the fully mediated effects of the quality assurance of dairy products. Specifically, the dairy cow culture model helps ensure the safety and quality of milk supply, allowing core dairy firms to control product quality throughout the dairy supply chain. Our empirical study shows that the identified determinants interact to assure the quality of dairy products and enhance the competitive advantage of the dairy supply chain in China

How to Share Prosocial Behavior without Being Considered a Braggart?

When people share their prosocial behavior on social media, they always face the braggart’s dilemma. By sharing their good deeds, they run the risk of being considered braggarts and thus less likable; by staying silent, they receive no credit for what they do. This study proposes a framing strategy to alleviate this concern. By acknowledging a third party involved in the prosocial activity (e.g., organizer or sponsor), one will be perceived as more likable through reducing the suspicion of self-promoting and perceived to have put in more effort. An empirical study based on Twitter data was conducted to confirm our prediction. An experimental study follows to verify the mechanism. The findings provide implications for various stakeholders that take part in prosocial activities

Menuju Perencanaan Lansekap Apartemen yang Berkelanjutan Setelah Covid-19: : Perencanaan Berdasarkan Fenomena atau Hanya Atas Faktor Landasan Kebutuhan Kapitalisme?

Perancangan lansekap akan senantiasa mengalami perkembangan mengikuti kebutuhan manusia yang dinamis dan tuntutan perubahan zaman. Dengan adanya fenomena Covid-19 juga menjadikan perencanaan kebutuhan lansekap apartemen menjadi pertanyaan besar ke mana akan mengalami perubahan, karena kota-kota besar akan senantiasa berkembang dan fenomena Covid-19 menjadikan disaster management perencanaan lansekap menjadi pertimbangan dasar yang perlu menjadi landasan dalam mem-breakdown ke arah mana konsep-konsep baru perlu dikembangkan. Analisis ini dilakukan secara kualitatif, berupaya menganalisis dan mengambil contoh-contoh kasus pula dan mengevaluasinya sehingga dapat diketahui elemen-elemen yang perlu diperhatikan dalam perancangan lansekap apartemen di masa mendatang. Hasil dari penelitian ini adalah berupa perbandingan antara ke-3 kasus apartemen yang dibangun pada periode berbeda antara tahun 2009-2016. Rekomendasi penelitian ini adalah berupa usulan ketetapan regulasi perbandingan prosentase antara fungsi perumahan dan sarana prasarana komersial, menerapkan regulasi yang ada mengenai sarana prasarana (dari Kementerian PU) secara lebih konsekuen, ketetapan regulasi mengenai aturan vegetasi yang sesuai kaidah lingkungan hidup dan degradasi yang terjadi, proporsi ruang bermain anak yang ramah anak, dan mengkaji serta menerapkan adaptasi adaptasi ruang yang terjadi sebagai adaptasi terhadap perencananaan ruang setelah pandemik yang berorientasi keberlanjutan kota dan masyarakat secara jangka panjang

MMR Deficiency Does Not Sensitize or Compromise the Function of Hematopoietic Stem Cells to Low and High LET Radiation

One of the major health concerns on long‐duration space missions will be radiation exposure to the astronauts. Outside the earth’s magnetosphere, astronauts will be exposed to galactic cosmic rays (GCR) and solar particle events that are principally composed of protons and He, Ca, O, Ne, Si, Ca, and Fe nuclei. Protons are by far the most common species, but the higher atomic number particles are thought to be more damaging to biological systems. Evaluation and amelioration of risks from GCR exposure will be important for deep space travel. The hematopoietic system is one of the most radiation‐sensitive organ systems, and is highly dependent on functional DNA repair pathways for survival. Recent results from our group have demonstrated an acquired deficiency in mismatch repair (MMR) in human hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) with age due to functional loss of the MLH1 protein, suggesting an additional risk to astronauts who may have significant numbers of MMR deficient HSCs at the time of space travel. In the present study, we investigated the effects gamma radiation, proton radiation, and 56Fe radiation on HSC function in Mlh1+/+ and Mlh1‐/‐ marrow from mice in a variety of assays and have determined that while cosmic radiation is a major risk to the hematopoietic system, there is no dependence on MMR capacity. Stem Cells Translational Medicine 2018;7:513–520The hematopoietic system is essential for life, and normally has the capacity to sustain function for the duration of our lifetimes in spite of natural declination, which is associated with loss of DNA repair (including as DNA mismatch repair). Astronauts are exposed to ionizing radiation sources that are not commonly found on earth (such as HZE ions) and thus may display unforseen risks that need accounting in NASA risk models.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145333/1/sct312310.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145333/2/sct312310_am.pd

PENGGUNAAN MEDIA SOSIAL BERDASARKAN GENDER TERHADAP PRESTASI BELAJAR MAHASISWA

The need of information and communication for humans drives the development of the internet. In a university, students are internet users who sometimes not able to use it properly. Many studies see the relationship between gender and internet usage. Among students, the use of internet has an influence on learning achievement. This study aims to analyze the difference in learning achievement of male and female students who use social media. And to find out the difference reasons of using social media by them. The sample was taken about 300 college students in Padang City. The result by using Crosstab Analysis and Chi-Square Test showed that there were no difference between male and female on learning achievement who use social media. And there were no difference reasons of using social media between male and female college students. The expected this result can be used for further study especially about students learning behaviours so it can produce students who have good achievement.Kebutuhan akan informasi dan komunikasi bagi manusia mendorong meningkatnya perkembangan internet. Pada lingkungan perguruan tinggi, mahasiswa merupakan pengguna internet yang terkadang belum mampu menggunakannya secara tepat. Banyak penelitian yang melihat hubungan antara gender dan penggunaan internet. Dan jika ditelaah dari kalangan mahasiswa, maka terdapat pengaruh penggunaan internet terhadap prestasi belajar. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui dan menganalisa perbedaan prestasi belajar mahasiswa laki-laki dan mahasiswi perempuan di perguruan tinggi Kota Padang Sumatera Barat yang menggunakan media sosial dan untuk mengetahui perbedaan alasan penggunaan media sosial mahasiswa laki-laki dan mahasisiwi perempuan yang menggunakan media sosial. Sampel yang diambil sebanyak 300 mahasiswa perguruan tinggi di Kota Padang Propinsi Sumatera Barat dengan teknik analisis data analisis Crosstab menggunakan uji Chi-Square. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa tidak ada perbedaan prestasi belajar dan alasan pengguna media sosial antara mahasiswa laki-laki dan perempuan yang menggunakan media sosial. Diharapkan hasil ini dapat digunakan untuk penelitian lanjutan yang berhubungan dengan tantangan dunia pendidikan khususnya perguruan tinggi menghadapi perilaku belajar mahasiswa dan kondisi lingkungan kampus yang berbeda-beda namun menghasilkan mahasiswa yang berprestasi

Harvard Glaucoma Fairness: A Retinal Nerve Disease Dataset for Fairness Learning and Fair Identity Normalization

Fairness (also known as equity interchangeably) in machine learning is important for societal well-being, but limited public datasets hinder its progress. Currently, no dedicated public medical datasets with imaging data for fairness learning are available, though minority groups suffer from more health issues. To address this gap, we introduce Harvard Glaucoma Fairness (Harvard-GF), a retinal nerve disease dataset with both 2D and 3D imaging data and balanced racial groups for glaucoma detection. Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness globally with Blacks having doubled glaucoma prevalence than other races. We also propose a fair identity normalization (FIN) approach to equalize the feature importance between different identity groups. Our FIN approach is compared with various the-state-of-the-art fairness learning methods with superior performance in the racial, gender, and ethnicity fairness tasks with 2D and 3D imaging data, which demonstrate the utilities of our dataset Harvard-GF for fairness learning. To facilitate fairness comparisons between different models, we propose an equity-scaled performance measure, which can be flexibly used to compare all kinds of performance metrics in the context of fairness. The dataset and code are publicly accessible via \url{https://ophai.hms.harvard.edu/datasets/harvard-glaucoma-fairness-3300-samples/}

Modelling upper respiratory viral load dynamics of SARS-CoV-2.

Relationships between viral load, severity of illness, and transmissibility of virus are fundamental to understanding pathogenesis and devising better therapeutic and prevention strategies for COVID-19. Here we present within-host modelling of viral load dynamics observed in the upper respiratory tract (URT), drawing upon 2172 serial measurements from 605 subjects, collected from 17 different studies. We developed a mechanistic model to describe viral load dynamics and host response and contrast this with simpler mixed-effects regression analysis of peak viral load and its subsequent decline. We observed wide variation in URT viral load between individuals, over 5 orders of magnitude, at any given point in time since symptom onset. This variation was not explained by age, sex, or severity of illness, and these variables were not associated with the modelled early or late phases of immune-mediated control of viral load. We explored the application of the mechanistic model to identify measured immune responses associated with the control of the viral load. Neutralising antibodies correlated strongly with modelled immune-mediated control of viral load amongst subjects who produced neutralising antibodies. Our models can be used to identify host and viral factors which control URT viral load dynamics, informing future treatment and transmission blocking interventions