General Issues in the Evolution of Fermion Masses and Mixings

General issues in the renormalization group evolution of fermion masses and mixings is discussed. An effective fixed point in the top quark Yukawa coupling can strongly constrain its value at the electroweak scale. Predictions following from Yukawa coupling unification are affected by threshold corrections at the grand unified scale. The Landau pole translates into an upper limit on the strong gauge coupling $\alpha _3(M_Z)$. Given the hierarchy in the fermion sector, the evolution of the Cabbibo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix can be expressed in terms of a single scaling parameter $S$. Using this scaling factor and analogous scaling factors for the quark and lepton masses, we outline a systematic strategy that readily yields electroweak predictions for any GUT scale texture.}Comment: (Talk given at the SUSY93 Conference MSB), 9 pages + 3 PS figures not included (available on request), MAD/PH/75

Supersymmetry with Grand Unification

Supersymmetry (SUSY) has many well known attractions, especially in the context of Grand Unified Theories (GUTs). SUSY stabilizes scalar mass corrections (the hierarchy problem), greatly reduces the number of free parameters, facilitates gauge coupling unification, and provides a plausible candidate for cosmological dark matter. In this conference report we survey some recent examples of progress in SUSY-GUT applications.Comment: Talk V. Barger at the Workshop on Physics at Current Accelerators and the Supercollider, Argonne, June 1993, 15 pages + 12 PS figures included (uuencoded), (correct author list in header) MAD/PH/78

Supergravity Solutions in the Low-tan⁡β\tan\beta λt \lambda_t Fixed Point Region

There has been much discussion in the literature about applying the radiative electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) requirement to GUT models with supergravity. We motivate and discuss the application of the EWSB requirement to the low $\tan\beta$ fixed-point region and describe the solutions we find.Comment: Talk presented by P. Ohmann at the Second IFT Workshop: Yukawa Couplings and the Origins of Mass, Gainesville, Florida, February 11--13, 1994. Standard Latex, 11 pages with figures. Uses epsf.sty to incorporate 4 postscript figures (uufiled and submitted via figures command). Can be texed without figures. Hardcopies available by conventional mail upon request. MAD/PH/82

Universal Evolution of CKM Matrix Elements

We derive the two-loop evolution equations for the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix. We show that to leading order in the mass and CKM hierarchies the scaling of the mixings $|V_{ub}|^2$, $|V_{cb}|^2$, $|V_{td}|^2$, $|V_{ts}|^2$ and of the rephase-invariant CP-violating parameter $J$ is universal to all orders in perturbation theory. In leading order the other CKM elements do not scale. Imposing the constraint $\lambda _b=\lambda _{\tau}$ at the GUT scale determines the CKM scaling factor to be $\simeq 0.58$ in the MSSM.Comment: 17 pages + 2 figures not included (available upon request), revised version fixes discrepancy between S and S^{1/2}, no other changes, MAD/PH/72

“Smartphone apps are cool, but do they help me?”: A qualitative interview study of adolescents’ perspectives on using smartphone interventions to manage nonsuicidal self-injury

Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a major mental health problem associated with negative psychosocial outcomes and it most often starts in early adolescence. Despite this, adolescents are rarely involved in informing the development of interventions designed to address their mental health problems. This study aimed to (1) assess adolescents’ needs and preferences about future interventions that are delivered through smartphones and (2) develop a framework with implications for designing engaging digital mental health interventions. Fifteen adolescent girls, aged 12– 18 years, who met diagnostic criteria for a current NSSI disorder and were in contact with mental health services, participated in semi-structured interviews. Following a reflexive thematic analysis approach, this study identified two main themes: (1) Experiences of NSSI (depicts the needs of young people related to their everyday experiences of managing NSSI) and (2) App in Context (por-trays preferences of young people about smartphone interventions and reflects adolescents’ views on how technology itself can improve or hinder engaging with these interventions). Adolescent patients expressed interest in using smartphone mental health interventions if they recognize them as helpful, relevant for their life situation and easy to use. The developed framework suggests that digital mental health interventions are embedded in three contexts (i.e., person using the interven-tion, mental health condition, and technology-related factors) which together need to inform the development of engaging digital resources. To achieve this, the cooperation among people with lived experience, mental health experts, and human computer interaction professionals is vital