Population analysis of a purebred Hereford and a multibreed synthetic beef cattle herd

International audienc

Friends with Benefits: The Evolution of Chinese Guanxi in Conjunction with the One Child Policy and Improvements in Communicative Technologies

This thesis examines the role of “guanxi,” or the Chinese social phenomenon of complex relationship building through reciprocal favor exchange, also referred to as form of social networking. In conjunction with the implementation of the One Child Policy and the spread of communicative technology, guanxi has changed greatly in China. China’s previously large family networks have been reduced and people are using social media, and friendship networks more than ever. As a result, guanxi has become more social, expansive, and shallow and less geographically-valued, kinship-based, and emotionally profound. Guanxi’s role in hiring practices and the interaction of labor and capital will also be examined. Through the analysis of aggregate, demographic and technology, data, and the analysis of a series of first-hand interviews, the changes occurring in traditional and non-traditional guanxi will be justified and explained

The design, construction, and commissioning of the KATRIN experiment

The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment, which aims to make a direct and model-independent determination of the absolute neutrino mass scale, is a complex experiment with many components. More than 15 years ago, we published a technical design report (TDR) [1] to describe the hardware design and requirements to achieve our sensitivity goal of 0.2 eV at 90% C.L. on the neutrino mass. Since then there has been considerable progress, culminating in the publication of first neutrino mass results with the entire beamline operating [2]. In this paper, we document the current state of all completed beamline components (as of the first neutrino mass measurement campaign), demonstrate our ability to reliably and stably control them over long times, and present details on their respective commissioning campaigns

The world trade center 9/11 disaster and progressive collapse of tall buildings

The collapse of the World Trade Center buildings on September 11, 2001 posed questions on the stability of tall buildings in fire. Understanding the collapse of the WTC Towers offers the opportunity to learn useful engineering lessons in order to improve the design of future tall buildings against fire induced collapse. This paper extends previous research on the modelling of the collapse of the WTC Towers on September 11, 2001 using a newly developed ‘‘structures in fire’’ simulation capability in the open source software framework OpenSees. The simulations carried out are validated by comparisons with previous work and against the findings from the NIST investigation, albeit not in the forensic sense. The column ‘‘pull in’’ that triggers the instability of the structure and leads to collapse is explained. The collapse mechanisms of generic composite tall buildings are also examined. This is achieved through carrying out a detailed parametric study varying the relative stiffness of the column and the floors. The two main mechanisms identified in previous research (weak and strong floor) are reproduced and criteria are established on their occurrence. The analyses performed revealed that the collapse mechanism type depended on the bending stiffness ratio and the number of floors subjected to fire and that the most probable type of failure is the strong floor collapse. The knowledge of these mechanisms is of practical use if stakeholders wish to extend the tenability of a tall building structure in a major fire.Professor Jose Torero and the Open-Sees team at PEER, UC Berkele

Three Problems With Current Digital Mental Health Research . . . and Three Things We Can Do About Them

An increasingly large body of randomized controlled trials has demonstrated the efficacy of mental health technologies, such as Web-based and mobile interventions, to prevent and treat mental disorders and increase psychological well-being. However, there is little evidence that these tools can be successfully implemented in clinical settings. The authors highlight three widely held misconceptions that they believe are holding back the field, and they reconceptualize the issues to strengthen the path toward implementation and accelerate innovation

Evaluation of a recommender app for apps for the treatment of depression and anxiety: an analysis of longitudinal user engagement

Objective:While depression and anxiety are common mental health issues, only a small segment of the population has access to standard one-on-one treatment. The use of smartphone apps can fill this gap. An app recommender system may help improve user engagement of these apps and eventually symptoms. Methods:IntelliCare was a suite of apps for depression and anxiety, with a Hub app that provided app recommendations aiming to increase user engagement. This study captured the records of 8057 users of 12 apps. We measured overall engagement and app-specific usage longitudinally by the number of weekly app sessions ("loyalty") and the number of days with app usage ("regularity") over 16 weeks. Hub and non-Hub users were compared using zero-inflated Poisson regression for loyalty, linear regression for regularity, and Cox regression for engagement duration. Adjusted analyses were performed in 4561 users for whom we had baseline characteristics. Impact of Hub recommendations was assessed using the same approach. Results:When compared to non-Hub users in adjusted analyses, Hub users had a lower risk of discontinuing IntelliCare (hazard ratio = 0.67, 95% CI, 0.62-0.71), higher loyalty (2- to 5-fold), and higher regularity (0.1-0.4 day/week greater). Among Hub users, Hub recommendations increased app-specific loyalty and regularity in all 12 apps. Discussion/Conclusion:Centralized app recommendations increase overall user engagement of the apps, as well as app-specific usage. Further studies relating app usage to symptoms can validate that such a recommender improves clinical benefits and does so at scale