This study investigates family social capital "stock and flow" processes defined by social capital access and use at the family-firm nexus over time. We examined direction of effects in associations between family functional strength and business-related tension moderated by firm continuation status using National Family Business Panel data, grounded in the Sustainable Family Business Theory (SFBT). Families continuing ownership experienced greater family functional continuity, which was associated with less business-related tension over time. Families discontinuing ownership exhibited less functional continuity with a family and business disengagement pattern. Regarding bridging of family capital resources, differences were found in human, social, and financial capital that were associated with family functional strength and business-related tension for each ownership group. For both groups, however, making family a priority over firm was associated with stronger family functionality. Contributions include theoretical and methodological distinctions between family capital stocks and flows and support for SFBT theoretical propositions.Key Words: business tension, family business, family capital, family functioning, social capital.Family capital is defined by Danes, Stafford, Haynes, and Amarapurkar (2009) as the bridging of financial, human, and social capital. Of those three components, family social capital has received the least attention in the family firm literature. It is a complex construct with bonding and bridging characteristics that traverse family and firm (Adler & Kwon, 2002; Coleman, 1988; Davidsson & Honig, 2003). This study focuses on internal family capital. It contributes to Eddleston and Kellermans' (2006) call for research on complex family interactions that creates a greater understanding of how family capital contributes to or hinders, or both, family firm sustainability. It also contributes to Danes and colleagues' (2009) call for theoretical and empirical work on the distinctions between family capital stocks and flows.Important work on family social capital has been accomplished by Pearson, Carr, and Shaw (2008), describing internal social capital, and Arregle, Hirt, Sirmon, and Very (2007), outlining propositions about family and organizational social capital connections. These theories are in keeping with the theory introduced in this study. We investigated family processes around social capital access and use at the family-firm nexus over time by striving to unravel the direction of effects in associations between family functional strength (FFS) and business-related tension (BRT) moderated by firm continuation status. These theories recognize that family social capital influences the family and the business.Bonding is one way social capital impacts the family. When accessing and using bonding social capital, those actions can solidify owning family relationships that can build trust, internal cohesiveness, and solidarity in shared goal commitment. The use of bonding social capital builds family resilience capacity epitomized by functional strength, which assists owning families in tackling problems that cause tension at the family-firm intersection (Danes & Stafford, 2011). Bonding social capital assists in problem solving by providing secure and consistent access to resources, creating increased efficiency in the use of resources (Davidsson & Honig, 2003).Much existing family firm research, however, uses indicators of structures such as presence of family councils rather than indicators of family processes to assess bonding social capital flows. The assumption is widely made in this research that if family capital stocks exist, that they can be readily accessed and used for the firm's good. We know little, however, about family capital flows and processes generating these flows. Furthermore, when investigating flows of bonding social capital, it is critically important to distinguish concepts of resilience capacity (a stock) and taking actions that draw on that capacity (a flow). …


We present the analysis of time-series of photoelectric data of a Bp star and four new Ap stars observed photoelectrically under the Nainital-Cape survey programme. The project was started about two decades ago, aiming to search for new rapidly oscillating Ap stars. The frequency analysis of the time-series of these stars obtained on multiple nights did not reveal any pulsational variability. In addition to this, we have performed the analysis of time-series differential CCD photometry of the two pulsating Am stars HD 13038 and HD 13079, where we find some evidence of new periods. To expand and strengthen the ongoing survey work, we propose to build-up a tri-national collaboration of astronomers from India, South Africa and Belgium.


Using PCR method, Shaoxing duck interferon-alpha gene (SX-DuIFN-α) was amplified from the genomic DNA of Shaoxing duck liver and cloned into vector pUC18. After sequencing, the gene of mature SX-DuIFN-α protein was sub- cloned into expression vector pET-28α(+) and expressed in "E. coli" BL21-plysS. After renaturation, the antiviral activity of the expression product was determined. The results of sequencing showed that sxDuIFN-α consisted of 576 nucleotides, encoding 191 amino acids. The homologies of the sxDuIFN-α, DuIFN-α in GenBank and BDIFN-α nucleotide sequences were 99.3% and 99.1%, respectively, and amino acid homology was 97.9% among them. By induction with IF[G, the expression vector pEf-28α(+) containing sxDuIFN-α gene had expressed DuIFN-α with relative molecular weight of 20.7kD. This expression product was verified to he of high antiviral activity against VSV and attenuated duck plague virus by inhibiting the cytopatic effect.


This paper is the third of a series that defines a new approach to in-line lithography control. The first paper described the use of optically measurable line-shortening targets to enhance signal-to-noise and reduce measurement time. The second described the dual-tone optical critical dimension (OCD) measurement and analysis necessary to distinguish dose and defocus. Here we describe the marriage of dual-tone OCD to SEM-CD metrology that comprises what we call 'process window metrology' (PWM), the means to locate each measured site in dose and focus space relative to the allowed process window. PWM provides in-line process tracking and control essential to the successful implementation of low-k lithography.


Introduction The importance of genetic polymorphism in determining physiological responses is becoming increasingly apparent. Genetic polymorphism if the CCK1 receptor has been implicated in obesity1 and delayed gastric emptying.2 It is not known if common polymorphisms of CCK and the CCK1 receptor affect function and phenotype. Objectives: To determine if common genetic polymorphisms of the CCK or CCK1 receptor influence the magnitude of change in gastric emptying or feelings of fullness and hunger in response to CCK1 receptor antagonism. Methods Saliva was obtained from 520 white Caucasoid individuals aged between 18 and 60 and analysed for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Haplotype blocks were identified and 25 individuals (12 female, mean age 23, mean BMI 23.7) who were found to be homozygous for four different variants of these blocks (H1-4), underwent three liquid gastric emptying (GE) studies using the 13C acetate breath test, both with and without the CCK1 receptor antagonist dexloxiglumide (600 mg). These individuals filled in visual analogue scales (VAS) for hunger and fullness at 5-minute intervals for the duration of the studies (45 minutes). Mean per cent increase in gastric emptying with dexloxiglumide was calculated and compared across the genotypes. Results No difference in the proportional increase in gastric emptying rate after dexloxiglumide was seen between the different haplotype groups: per cent increase in GE rate±SD: H1 (n=10) 35.8±20, H2 (n=5) 34.2±16, H3 (n=5) 34.3±28, H4 (n=5) 47.8±25. ANOVA p=0.66. No significant difference in changes in VAS scores for hunger or fullness was seen after dexloxiglumide between the different haplotype groups. Conclusion Common genetic polymorphisms of the CCK or CCK1 receptor gene do not appear to affect the magnitude of CCK response to a nutrient stimulus. No difference in changes in reported feelings of fullness and hunger after dexloxiglumide are seen with genetic polymorphism of these genes.


Comparative egg maturation was observed between fertile eggs laid by unirradiated females, by unirradiated females mated with irradiated males, by irradiated females mated with normal males, and by virgin unirradiated females. Haploid eggs turn yellow and dry by the fifth day. Eggs from irradiated parents develop more slowly than normal eggs. Most embryos from parents irradiated as P generation adults at 16.8 kilorads for males and 12.0 kR for females die early in embryonic development. A description of egg development is included.


User participation has become an increasingly important principle in health care over the last few decades. Healthcare professionals are expected to involve patients in treatment decisions. Clear guidance as to what this should entail for professionals in clinical work is not accounted for in legislation. In this study, we explore how healthcare professionals in a Municipal Acute Ward perceived, experienced and performed user participation. The ward represents a new short-time service model for emergency assistance in Norway. We focused on the challenges the professionals faced in clinical work and how they dealt with these. Data were drawn from qualitative interviews with 11 healthcare professionals and from 10 observations in relation to previsits and physician's rounds in the ward. Transcripts of interviews and observations were analysed using a method for systematic text condensation. In the analysis, we applied Lipsky's perspective on dilemmas of street-level bureaucrats. The results show that that the professionals perceived user participation as an important and natural part of their work. They experienced difficulties related to collaboration with patients, caregivers, and professionals in other services, and with framework conditions that caused conflicting expectations, responsibility, and priorities. The professionals seemed to take a pragmatic approach to user participation, managing it within narrow perspectives. Our study indicates that the participants dealt with the dilemmas at the cost of user participation. The results demonstrate that there is a gap between the outlined health policy and the professionals' opportunities to fulfil this policy in clinical work regarding user participation. The policy decision-makers should recognise the balancing work required of healthcare professionals to deal with difficulties in clinical work. The knowledge that professionals possess as performers of services and the need for valuing in policy processes should be acknowledged.


Abstract This paper investigates the connection between linguistic impoliteness and identity in computer-mediated communication through the examination of reader responses to ideas and views expressed by professional journalists in the online media. The study finds that respondents may use linguistic impoliteness strategically to communicate disagreements, to argue against an out-group's ideological views, or to discredit ideological opponents. The analysis of reader responses within a social psychological theory of identity indicates that the use of impoliteness is linked to the respondent's identification of him/herself with a group and its ideological position and his/her willingness to act toward the achievement of a goal desired within that group.


Helichrysum plicatum DC. is widely used in folk medicine in treating a variety of health disorders. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of different extraction solvents on the chemical composition, antioxidant potential, and antimicrobial activities of H. plicatum. Aerial parts were separately extracted with ethanol, dichloromethane, and sunflower oil. The oil extract (OE) was re-extracted with acetonitrile. A total of 142 compounds were tentatively identified in ethanolic (EE), dichloromethane (DCME), and acetonitrile (ACNE) extracts using HPLC-DAD/ESI-ToF-MS. The dominant compound class in all extracts were α-pyrones, alongside flavonoids in EE, terpenoids in DCME and ACNE, and phloroglucinols in DCME. The antioxidant potential of the extracts was assessed by the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) assay. EE and DCME possessed the most potent radical scavenging capacity. Antimicrobial activity was investigated on eight bacterial, two yeast, and one fungal species. All extracts exhibited high antifungal and notable antibacterial activities compared to control substances, with DCME being the most potent. DCME exhibited stronger antimicrobial activity against P. aeruginosa than the standard chloramphenicol.


This collection then, in addition to contributing to some ongoing debates in applied epistemology, also aspires to be something of a call to arms. We hope that it will demonstrate that applied epistemology is an important and under-acknowledged field of philosophical inquiry. One thing that seems to have hindered the recognition of applied epistemology as a subject on a par with applied ethics is the fact that some of the (very few) people who work on it have an unnecessarily narrow conception of its scope. One very influential definition of the subject is given by Larry Laudan: Applied epistemology in general is the study of whether systems of investigation that purport to be seeking the truth are well engineered to lead to true beliefs about the world. Theorists of knowledge, as epistemologists are sometimes known, routinely examine truth-seeking practices like science and mathematics to find out whether they are capable of delivering the goods they seek. Essential though such an enterprise undoubtedly is, the truth test conception of applied epistemology that it delivers is surely too narrow. The respects in which it is narrow can be brought out by comparison with applied ethics. First, the truth test conception focuses exclusively on one epistemic good – truth – when there are other pertinent epistemic values worth focusing on, such as the successful weighing of different kinds of values or evidence, and such as understanding, including social understanding that is fundamentally interpretive. Thus, the truth test conception might be compared to a conception of applied ethics that focuses exclusively on a single ethical good, such as happiness. Of course there are ethical theories, most notably utilitarianism, which do this, but even advocates of utilitarianism do not usually think that applied ethics is just a matter of calculating total (or average) happiness in this case or that. Instead, utilitarians, like Peter Singer, will usually, when doing applied ethics, try to construct arguments that will be persuasive to as broad an audience as possible, and not to just his fellow utilitarians.


The purpose of this paper is to examine the choice of invoicing currency of Turkish exports and imports in 2013. The role of the various type of driving forces resulting from macro level considerations, micro and industry features and transaction level considerations of the choice of invoicing currency is investigated through a multinomial logit analysis. We present stylized facts, mapping practices in invoicing and analysing the main determinants of invoicing currency choice in international trade. JEL Classification: F1, F3, F4, E31


A discharge-flow system incorporating a stirred-flow reactor has been used to obtain stoichiometric coefficients for the rapid reaction between O(3P) and trimethylamine (TMA). The amounts of O atoms consumed and NO molecules produced when TMA was added to the stirred-flow reactor at 420 K were determined directly by measurements of chemiluminescent intensities. The yield of H atoms was estimated by a kinetic method when an excess of NO was present at relatively high pressures. On addition of CO to induce competition for OH between the reactions CO + OH → CO2+ H (4) and O + OH → O2+ H (5) the resultant decrease in O-atom consumption indicated that 5.2±1.4 OH radicals were generated per TMA molecule reacted. Reaction (5) is the only likely source of O2 from the reaction. The stoichiometric equation deduced is (14.6±0.9)O+(CH3)3N → NO+3(CO+CO2)+(7±1)H+(5.2±1.4)O2 with the likelihood that a small yield of H2 is generated also.The stoichiometric coefficient of O atoms was found to decrease by 1.2±0.3 in O+N2+CO systems when the point of addition of TMA was switched from the stirred-flow reactor to a section of the entry tubing, the times for reaction prior to observation changing from ca. 1 s (at 420 K) to ca. 15 ms (at 292 K) correspondingly. In view of the limited extent of possible reaction of formaldehyde in 15 ms this excludes formaldehyde and hence its precursor CH3 radicals from being major intermediates in the reaction. The major reactions composing the mechanism have rate constants > 109 dm3 mol–1 s–1 at 292 K.


Water availability can be considered as one of the main restrictions for future development in South-Central Chile, due to the reported decreasing trends in precipitation in the last decades and the increasing demand for this resource. This issue makes the study of past water availability fundamental for the understanding of present and future variations. This paper presents a comparison of two water availability reconstructions within the Valdivian rainforest ecoregion (35o-48oS), one corresponding to a precipitation (37o-39.5o S) and the other to a streamflow reconstruction (41o S). This study shows that there are fundamental differences between them especially in the long term variability. However, there are also coincidences, mainly at higher frequency variations, such as at a bidecadal, decadal and annual scale. Another important finding is that these reconstructions show significant correlations with different climatic forcings in this area. The northern reconstruction presents a significant relationship with ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation), while the southern does the same with the AAO (Antarctic Oscillation Index).


During implementation of the total skin electron treatment, using six-dual-field technique, at radiotherapy department a large number of measurements are needed. To assess depth dose curve required by clinicians and dose uniformity over a whole treatment plane, combinations of different irradiation parameters are used (electron energy, beam angle, scatterers). Measurements for each combination must be performed. One possible way to reduce number of measurements is to model the treatment using the Monte Carlo simulation of electron transport. We made a simplified multiple-source Monte Carlo model of electron beam and tested it by comparing calculations and experimental results. Calculated data differs less than 5 percent from measurements in the treatment plane. During the treatment patient can be approximated using cylinders with different diameters and orientations. We tried to model the depth dose variations in the total skin electron treatment not just around the body cross-section (simplified to cylinders of different diameters), but also along the body to account for the variations in body curvature longitudinally. This effect comes down to the problem of modeling distribution in different cylinders, but varying the longitudinal orientation of those cylinders. We compared Monte Carlo calculations and film measurements of depth dose curves for two orientations of the cylindrical phantom, which were the simplest for experimental arrangement. Comparison of the results proved accuracy of the model and we used it to calculate depth dose curves for a number of other cylinder orientations.


HuBi 1 has been proposed to be member of the rare class of born-again planetary nebulae (PNe), i.e., its central star experienced a very late thermal pulse and ejected highly processed material at high speeds inside the old hydrogen-rich PN. In this Letter we present GTC MEGARA integral field spectroscopic observations of the innermost regions of HuBi 1 at high spectral resolution ≃16 km s−1 and multi-epoch subarcsecond images obtained ≃12 yr apart. The analysis of these data indicates that the inner regions of HuBi 1 were ejected ≃200 yr ago and expand at velocities ≃300 km s−1, in excellent agreement with the born-again scenario. The unprecedented tomographic capabilities of the GTC MEGARA high-dispersion observations used here reveal that the ejecta in HuBi 1 has a shell-like structure, in contrast to the disrupted disk and jet morphology of the ejecta in other born-again PNe.


The sovereign debt crisis and the euro crisis have prompted heads of state and government in Europe to intensify supranational cooperation. However, some political leaders and policy makers aim for more. They propose the introduction of a common European economic government that would prevent Europe from experiencing further financial threats and stabilise national budgets and financial markets, as well as the euro. The results of a survey among well-informed people imply a rather ambivalent attitude towards this venture. While a slim majority favours the general idea of centralised economic governance in Europe, or in the eurozone, the concrete ideas for the design of such a government are not popular among the respondents. A centralised macroeconomic policy, a common budget that is set centrally and using eurobonds as a common means of debt financing in the eurozone all receive limited approval. So, if they are aiming for more supranational cooperation, public and corporate policy makers need to take clear-cut steps that offer tangible benefits that influence public opinions favourably.


The peptide map obtained by tryptic hydrolysis of the lysozyme oxidized at the S--S-bonds was characterized and compared with that of tryptic hydrolysis of the reduced lysozyme. It was shown that the mobility of peptides containing oxidized amino acid residues is decreased under electrophoresis and chromatographic treatment. Under a decrease in the peptide charge during oxidation, the changes in electrophoretic and chromatographic mobilities show a correlation. In case when the peptide charge remains unchanged, only chromatographic mobility may be altered. It is demonstrated that the cystein residues significantly interfere with the effects of trypsin on the adjacent bonds.


Ensuring the security of the state is one of the primary responsibilities of its authorities, which can take a number of legal measures for that purpose. In this context, however, a question can be asked whether the protection of a value such as the security of the state can justify the limitation of human rights and freedoms and, if so, how deep such state's interference in constitutionally protected rights and freedoms can be. In particular, can the basic human right – the right to life be scarified for the protection of the state security? The conflict between these values has been illustrated by the amendment of the Polish Aviation law adopted in 2004. It allowed under certain conditions to shoot down a civil aircraft with passengers on board. The regulation was subject to the constitutional review conducted by the Polish Constitutional Tribunal and was declared unconstitutional. However, the emergence of new forms of terrorism and the escalation of this phenomenon in Europe, which characterizes the beginning of the twenty-first century, cause that the problem still remains valid.


We numerically investigate the gain and phase recovery dynamics of quantum-dot (QD) semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) by simultaneous consideration of the temporal and spectral variations. We solve 1088 coupled rate equations to simulate the carrier recovery dynamics of the inhomogeneously broadened QD ensemble, where QD electron and hole states are considered separately. The gain and phase recovery responses induced by an ultrafast pump pulse are calculated by considering different carrier relaxation time constants and spectral line shape functions involved in the successive carrier recovery process. The interband transition is assumed to have a Lorentzian line shape function and the intraband free-carrier absorption is described by the Drude model. We demonstrate that the actual behavior of the gain and phase recovery in QD SOAs can be clearly understood by simultaneously considering the temporal and spectral behavior of the gain and phase recovery responses, which are visualized by means of plots in the time and wavelength domains. We identify how the respective QD state-the ground state, the excited state, and an upper state-and quantum-well carrier reservoirs contribute to the gain and phase recovery of QD SOAs both temporally and spectrally.


"A Comparative Effectiveness Trial of Postoperative Management for Lumbar Spine Surgery: Changing Behavior Through Physical Therapy (CBPT) Study Protocol," by Archer KR, Coronado RA, Haug CM, Vanston SW, Devin CJ, Fonnesbeck CJ, Aaronson OS, Cheng JS, Skolasky RL, Riley LH 3rd, and Wegener ST, was published in BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders (2014;15:325). Kristin R. Archer, PT, DPT, PhD, was awarded a Magistro Family Foundation Research Grant in 2011. Rogelio A. Coronado, PT, PhD, FAAOMPT, was awarded an Orthopaedic Research Grant in 2014. Archer's contributions to this research were supported in part by the Foundation.


AIM
This study describes a clinical case of type III dens invaginatus with an extensive periradicular lesion treated successfully.

BACKGROUND
Dens invaginatus is a maldevelopment of the dental germ which occurs as a result of the invagination of the enamel organ. These cases may present difficulties with respect to its diagnosis and treatment because of canal morphology. The success of endodontic therapy requires a knowledge of dental anatomy and its anomalies.

CASE REPORT
A 17-year-old female patient is reported presenting right maxillary lateral incisor (tooth no. 7) classified as type III dens invaginatus with necrotic pulp and presence of an extensive radiolucid lesion. Endodontic treatment was recommended for tooth. However, intracanal exudate was present, suggesting a resistant infection. Enucleation of the lesion was performed as a complementary approach. The root canal obturation was carried out by the gutta-percha thermoplastification technique with root canal sealer, followed by restoration of the tooth. Healing of the lesion with hard tissue formation was confirmed at follow-up.

CONCLUSION
A combination of endodontic and surgical treatments were fundamental to the maintenance of the tooth. The treatment was considered successful.

CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Root canal therapy of dens invaginatus should be based on a thorough clinical and radiographic evaluation. The knowledge of classification and anatomical variations of teeth with dens invaginatus are of great importance for correct treatment.


Excessive volumetric change may have great influence in collapse of hardened cement mortar. Autoclave expansion test provides an index of potential delayed expansion and thereby the soundness of cement mortar. This paper presents an effort to model autoclave expansion in relation with factors affecting soundness of cement mortar. A statistical analysis is performed for a data base of 575 chemical and physical tests obtained from archive of quality control at Kerbala plant for SRC cement. These data sets are refined to 444 by excluding outliers to avoid errors in measurement, recording, and observations. Multiple linear regression by SPSS16 software is used to develop a statistical model relating autoclave expansion with some explanatory variables (MgO %, F. CaO %, C3A %, C3S %). Stepwise regression shows that linear model explains 89.4 % of variation in autoclave expansion by percentage of free lime to 0.05 degree of significance, while excludes other proposed variables. If the degree of significance is changed to 0.1, C3A may be included in the statistical model as second explanatory variable. The low percentage of MgO makes its effect insignificant for inclusion in the developed model. Also, the analysis shows that the restricted percentage of Tricalcium Aluminate C3A in the sulphate resisting cement may serve positively in mitigating the expansion of hardened cement mortar. On the other hand, the developed relation may give indication to control a recommended percentage of free lime in the raw materials to assure allowable soundness of cement.


Various studies have reported that Noni shows various health effects. This study aimed to assess the ability of Noni fruit extract to serve as a single active functional ingredient for the alleviation of hangover symptoms in Sprague Dawley rats and healthy subjects in a single-dose, randomized, double-blind, crossover, placebo-controlled study. The rats were orally administered Noni fruit extract at 50 or 100 mg per kg body weight (B.W.) and HOVENIA. The blood ethanol (EtOH) and acetaldehyde concentrations were significantly lower in the 100 mg per kg B.W. group than in the EtOH group. Alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase activity tended to increase in the 100 mg kg-1 B.W. group. In the human study, 30 subjects received either a placebo or Noni fruit extract (1 g). The Noni fruit extract group showed significantly faster time point at which the maximum concentration (Tmax) of alcohol than in the placebo group. In addition, blood acetaldehyde levels and diarrhea at 40 and 720 min after alcohol intake and the area under the curve between 40 and 60 min of acetaldehyde were significantly decreased in the Noni fruit extract group compared to the placebo group. According to the QUalitative INteraction Trees, subjects who were ≤36 years old who consumed more alcohol (>15 drinks per week) and had a higher total hangover score (>27.5 and 33) presented significantly lower blood acetaldehyde levels and less severe hangover symptoms. These results indicate that Noni fruit extract has the potential to improve hangover symptoms by decreasing alcohol and acetaldehyde levels.


The collaboration between the Human Genome Project and the Sanger Institute, spurred on by their contemporary- Celera Genomics, in the race to sequence the human genome, opened the door to a generation of research concerned with the study of the nucleic manual. Following this monumental achievement, the genomic era was born, heralding the development of gene therapy, personalized medicine, pharmacogenomics, and CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing systems. These 'omic' disciplines offer a wide range of applications in the treatment of disease and the betterment of the quality of human life. Their notability, however, manifests in the unique mix of sociological and scientific discourse that ensues. Current genomic-era milestones present a unique opportunity to view scientific advance in a thoughtful light, lacing together discoveries, history, and ethical questions, while encouraging the public to consider the varied facets of this scientific evolution with the same curiosity and enthusiasm as the trailblazers of the Human Genome Project. Consider it an invitation to reflect on the fruits of the genomic era.


While rarely difficult for the average speaker/listener, the ubiquity of variation at all levels of linguistic production is a challenge for modern psycholinguistic models of language processing. Variation is perhaps most extreme at the levels of phonetics and phonology, but many models of language processing all but eschew these levels altogether. The current paper posits that cognitive control mechanisms, when divided into proactive and reactive control via a dual mechanisms framework may effectively describe the strategies individuals use to process linguistic variation and, when incorporated into language processing models, can generate novel, testable predictions regarding the origin and propagation of individual differences. By means of example, I illustrate how dual mechanisms of control could be incorporated into a connectionist model of language production. I then describe how dual mechanisms of cognitive control might be relevant for the Adaptive Control Hypothesis and how individual differences in processing strategies may modulate participation in language changes-inprogress.


This study investigates the risk-return relationship by using an ordinal strategic risk measure of risk rather than the more conventional variance-based measures. A set of hypotheses is specified linking ordinal strategic risk, return, and organizational slack. Empirical results are interesting in that they allow elaborating the idea that strategic risk may have a positive effect on subsequent performance and that performance has a negative effect on subsequent risk. Such a self-correcting cycle offers an interesting contrast to the "vicious circle" proposed by previous risk-return research based on prospect theory. Overall, this paper suggests that new conceptual and methodological risk approaches are needed to better understand the risk taking process in organizations.


An experimental study was done on the parameters affecting the frequency drift of a transferred-eletron-device (TED) controlled oscillator (VCO) after tuning from one frequency to another within its tuning band. For the VCO measured, reduction in frequency drift was observed and measured when: 1) the output power was reduced voltage either by decoupling the load or by using a lower power TED; 2) the voltage swing was restricted so as to draw less than 10 mu A forward or reverse current; and 3) when a varactor with a high Q was used. With 5-mW output the TED VCO had a frequency drift less than 2.5 MHz from 1 mu s to 100 ms when step tuning the frequency anywhere in the frequency band from 6.8 to 9.1 GHz.


Digitization in the power industry enables wide connectivity among multiple new entrants such as DERs, prosumers, and P2P counterparts within or outside the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). The use of DLT to improve resilience in the power grid has growing support, but new technology provides new opportunities for adversaries to cause harm. This work completed by the Cybersecurity- focused task force of IEEE SA P2418.5 evaluates the potential risks by applying the MITRE ATT&CK® ICS matrix to the DLT Engineering and Cybersecurity Stack designed for power systems applications.


This paper presents the performance of capacitor-charging-type inverters. Both single- and three-phase inverters are considered. A simple technique to design the L -C elements of such an inverter is introduced. The switching devices are operated in the discontinuous conduction mode to reduce the size of the inductor and also for better dynamic performance. The inverter is simulated in PSPICE. An experimental prototype is produced to verify the results from simulation. Experimentations have been conducted for single-phase and three-phase systems. The inverter is found to operate satisfactorily for various types of load including unbalanced load.


Objective (s): Aim of the study was to explore the changing patterns of insulin resistance in PCOS women. Methods: The study was conducted at CARE, department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Biomedical Research Group, BIRDEM hospital. A total number of 103 PCOS women of 15- 36 years were included in the present study. They were grouped into NGT (n=68), IGT (n=30), type 2 DM (n=5) according to nature of glucose tolerance. Fasting and glucose stimulated insulin was measured. Results: In IGT group, fasting and glucose-stimulated insulin level were higher when compared with NGT, but no difference between type 2 DM and NGT group was found. Insulin-glucose ratio (after glucose load) was significantly lower in type 2 DM when compared with NGT group (p=0.049), but there was no difference of insulin-glucose ratio (fasting) between type 2 DM and NGT group. PCOS with IGT or Type 2 DM women were more insulin resistant than NGT group. (p=0.015, p=0.042 respectively). Conclusion: Insulin resistance is a major pathophysiologic feature of PCOS with IGT; however â cell secretory defect is associated with type 2 DM in these subjects. Bangladesh J Obstet Gynaecol, 2014; Vol. 29(2) : 73-77


Introduction: Severe motoric symptoms in parkinson's disease arise from the loss of dopaminergic input into the striatum. The striatal efferent nuclei are thus affected by a lack of GABAergic input. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) seems to counterbalance this effect by a hitherto unknown molecular mechanism. Based on the hypothesis that high frequency electrical stimulation may have an effect on neutrotransmitter release in the local environment of the stimulation electrode we established an in vivo rat model allowing for simultaneous and collocated high frequency stimulation and microdialysis in freely moving rats. Method: Using standard stereotaxic techniques we implanted a double tube guiding cannula right above the corresponding target nucleus and fixed it on skull for permanent disposition. After a 7 day period of recovery we inserted a microdialysis probe and a stimulation electrode into the guiding cannula such that the tips of the probes were placed in the center of the target nucleus. The electrode surface was pointing to the microdialysis membrane with a distance smaller than 1mm. Thus we were able to sample neurotransmitter outflow during periods of electrical high frequency stimulation in different target nuclei. After the experiment we removed the brain and examined the accuracy of the probe placement using histological slices of the rat brain. Problem: Though leading to promising results in the rat caudate nucleus with a targeting accuracy of 100% we had to face problems with placement of stimulation electrode and microdialysis membrane into the small sized rat STN using standard stereotaxic techniques. Solution: We employed a new robot-assisted neuronavigation framework for small animal stereotaxy. The robotized spherical assistant for stereotaxic surgery (SASSU) allows automated, precise and repeatible implantation of probes into the brain. It is controlled by a navigation software based on coronal slices of the rat brain. Therefore software assisted preoperative planning could be easily performed using the software. Bregma and Lambda were used as landmarks for the registration of the rat skull like it is done with standard stereotaxic methods. Software parameter definition took place according to the surgical workflow. The SASSU step size and velocity were adjusted on demand. By definition of 5 different parameters we were able to guide a microdialysis probe and a stimulation electrode near together into the rat STN with any specified angle of entry and a positioning accuracy smaller than 45µm. The SASSU therefore provides a new stereotaxic tool for target optimization in DBS of the rat STN.


OBJECTIVE AND IMPORTANCE
We present a 6-week-old infant who developed a traumatic aneurysm from clearly documented shaken baby syndrome. Despite the theoretical similarity in the mechanism of such injuries, this is the first aneurysm reported that resulted from such a cause. The infant is also the youngest reported patient to have suffered from a traumatic aneurysm.

CLINICAL PRESENTATION
Police records documented shaking of the child as well as direct impact on the child's head. Three weeks later, the patient developed an intracerebral hemorrhage, which was revealed by angiography to have resulted from a pericallosal artery aneurysm.

TECHNIQUE
The aneurysm was totally resected through a porencephalic cyst, which had developed secondary to ischemic injury to the brain.

CONCLUSION
The temporal course, as well as the location of this traumatic aneurysm, is similar to that in older patients.


Objective: To describe the agribusiness potential of the castor oil plant in Mexico through the collection and analysis of agricultural, industrial and commercial information that allows decision making for the formulation of future productive projects to generate economic, social and technological impacts.Design/Methodology/Approach: The study is descriptive with a transactional design. The information was collected on national and international agrifood statistical and  documentary information platforms.Results: Different attempts have been made in Mexico in commercial and research  projects related to the cultivation, production and transformation of castor oil, with results that are not very encouraging due to the lack of knowledge about productive, technological and commercial processes. However, on the other hand, the need for the industrial sector to import oil to produce high-value products is evident.
Study Limitations/Implications: Isolated efforts have been made by each of the actors in the castor oil agribusiness, which has prevented the sector's consolidation.Findings/Conclusions: An intelligent management of agricultural production must be implemented through the establishment of commercial crops with the adoption of basic technological packages applied to each region in particular, with great attention to the availability of planting seed, which should have agronomic potential, use of nutrition and management of pests and diseases, as well as to foresee all the cultural tasks ofmaintenance of the crop and harvesting modality that guarantee yield in the field and quality raw material. Currently, there is a deficit in the castor oil market in the country, which leads to high business prospects and business opportunities.


Aim: Short-acting beta-agonist (SABA) use is an important aspect of asthma management. As patient reports can be hard to elicit, medical records are sometimes used to infer SABA use. We assessed whether database (DB) evaluation of SABA use reliably reflects patient reported (PR) use. Methods: We used a UK research database to select clinical records of patients aged 18–60yrs with an asthma diagnosis, no other chronic respiratory diseases and not receiving maintenance oral steroids. DB SABA prescribing over one year was calculated from prescription records. PR SABA use was computed from asthma questionnaire responses from the same year (assessing PR reliever use in the last week) with one "use" assumed to be 2 puffs (=200µg salbutamol) and extrapolating over 1yr. DB and PR SABA use were cross tabulated and strength of association assessed using Kendall9s Tau-b (τ b ) test. Results: Among the 2425 patients (60% female, 25% current smokers), PR SABA use was consistently lower than the number of inhalers actually prescribed resulting in a weak/significant association between DB and PR SABA use (τ b =0.21; p Conclusions: The discrepancy between PR and DB SABA use may reflect under-reporting by patients, prescribing of "spares", and/or asthma is a variable condition poorly characterised by data from a single week. The difference should be acknowledged in DB studies reporting SABA use.


Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) disease and the aortopathy associated with are a complex condition, of which, the genetics and pathophysiology are still not entirely delineated. The clinical management of this group of patients has been a challenge for physicians in all disciplines. Borger and colleagues (1) are to be congratulated for their great efforts and success in condensing the best available knowledge and current evidence in the executive summary of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery guidelines on BAV-related aortopathy (2). The guidelines as well as the executive summary covers the major aspects of BAV aortopathy.


Fozivudine [BM 211290, fozivudine tidoxil, FZT, HDP 990002, W 09726867] is a thioether lipid conjugate of zidovudine (AZT) in clinical development with Heidelberg Pharma Holdings for the potential treatment of HIV infection. Heidelberg Pharma's proprietary Linker-Cleavag-Enzyme Technology (LCE_Technology) is used to conjugate specific carriers to parent compounds, significantly improving their pharmacological, toxicological and/or clinical profile. LCE_Technology was originated at Boehringer Mannheim, which was acquired by, and integrated into, Roche. In 1999, when Heidelberg Pharma was founded, following a management buy-out from Roche Diagnostics GmbH, the new company acquired full ownership of the intellectual property and documentation related to various proprietary compounds, the LCE_Technology and its applications. According to Heidelberg Pharma's pipeline, published in August 2003, the product candidate, HDP 99.0002 (the company-specific code for fozivudine) will be in phase III development until early 2006, at which time the company hopes to file an NDA. A phase II study of fozivudine in 72 antiretroviral-naive patients with HIV infection was completed in the US and France by Roche.


This chapter reviews the top trends in international environmental law, including climate change, globalization of environmental law, sustainable development, the rise of the developing world, environmental institutions and governance, human rights and the environment, the environment and international economic law, biodiversity, chemicals and hazardous substances management, and the oceans and fisheries.


This article identifies a current disharmony arising from increased expectations for the effectiveness and scope of the multilateral non-proliferation export control regime system, coupled with the reality of regime structures the inherent institutional limitations of which form significant barriers to meeting these expectations. The article will propose that, through employing international legal and organisational theory, this disharmony can be substantially mediated, and that the expectations of the multilateral non-proliferation community can be essentially met through efforts of reform and restructuring of the multilateral export control regimes. These efforts, while endowing the regimes with the increased formality necessary for higher levels of effectiveness, at the same time do not present the serious challenges to notions of state sovereignty that have contributed to the current unwillingness of regime members to institute programmes of reform within the regimes.


Germany and Britain have served as models of either corporatist or voluntarist industrial relations. The more recent typology of 'varieties of capitalism' then identified Britain as a model case of a 'liberal market economy' while Germany was portrayed as a (state) 'co-ordinated market economy'. The mainstream of German-language labour history also tells this success story. Some research on the evolution of co-determination has portrayed its subject as a long-standing trait of German capitalism, with predecessors dating back as far as 1848. With its focus on the history of two key trade unions in core industries of Britain and Germany, the British metalworkers' union the Amalgamated Society of Engineers / Amalgamated Engineering Union and the German Metal Workers' Union / IG Metall, this article questions both exceptionalism and continuity. It argues that a path dependency exists in the structure of both unions and the industrial relations around them—but that this never came close to a linear evolution of voluntarism or corporatism. On closer examination, the history of both unions includes localist as well as centralist practices. From the 1890s both unions were part of collective bargaining with strong employers' associations; especially after 1945 both were open to corporatist compromises. For West Germany only, such a compromise was found in the early 1950s, and not before, while in Britain that same compromise was attempted but failed during the crucial years between 1965 and 1979. Therefore, to quote Stefan Berger, this article argues that 'similarities between the British and the German labour movements have been underestimated'.


Diaryliodonium salts are powerful and widely used arylating agents in organic chemistry. Here we report a scalable, synthesis of densely functionalized diaryliodonium salts from aryl iodides under mild conditions. This two-step, one-pot process has remarkable functional group tolerance, is compatible with commonly employed acid-labile protective group strategies, avoids heavy metal and transition metal reagents, and provides a direct route to stable precursors to PET imaging agents.


Background: Breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease and divided into five distinct groups (Luminal A, Luminal B, HER2-enriched, Basal-like, and Claudin-low subtypes). DNA copy number studies have suggested that chromosomal aberrations are different among subtypes. Basal-like, and Claudin-low subtypes are mainly ER-, PR- and HER2- (triple negative: TN). Recent study reported that the basal-like subtype was the most distinct with common losses of the regions containing tumor suppressor genes such as RB1, BRCA1, INPP4B, and the greatest overall genomic instability. On the other hand, Claudin-low tumors showed few copy number changes. Luminal A tumors show fewer chromosomal copy number changes than Luminal B and HER2-enriched subtypes. Aims: To investigate the extent of the chromosomal aberrations and to evaluate the relationships between chromosomal aberrations and breast cancer subtypes and other clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis. Methods: Specimens were obtained from 363 invasive breast cancer patients who underwent surgery in our department between 1994 and 2011. Four breast cancer subtypes were determined by the immunohistochemical analysis of ER, PR and HER2; hormone receptor (HR; ER and/or PR)+/HER2-, HR+/HER2+, HR-/HER2+(HER2) and TN. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) at the tumor suppressor gene (TSGs), BRCA1, BRCA2, TP53, RB1, PTEN and INPP4B, was investigated with microsatellite markers using our microsatellite analysis system. Copy number aberrations (CNAs) were analyzed by SNP-CGH array (Illumina, HumanOmni2.5-8).% Defects, which represents the percent of genome region containing chromosomal aberration, was determined by Karyostudio Software v1.4 (Illumina). Results: The incidence of LOH at BRCA, BRCA2, TP53, RB1, PTEN and INPP4B locus was 37.4, 34.0, 57.1, 41.9, 25.8 and 18.0%, respectively. The incidence of LOH was lowest in hormone receptor (HR)+/HER2- subtype, and higher in HER2 and triple negative (TN) subtypes. LOH at INPP4B locus was significantly associated with TN subtype. The LOH at BRCA1 and TP53 loci was highest in HER2 subtype. The LOH at BRCA1, TP53 and INPP4B loci was significantly associated with poor prognosis in all cases; however, the impact of LOH at these TSGs on the prognosis was different among subtypes. Coexistence of LOH at both BRCA1 and TP53 loci was significantly associated with aggressive phenotype and chromosomal aberrations.%Defect was highest in the tumors with LOH at both BRCA1 and TP53 loci. Coexistence of LOH at both BRCA1 and TP53 loci was significantly associated with poor prognosis, especially in HR+/HER2- subtype. Many cases with TN subtype reveal gross chromosomal aberrations, and these tumors were considered to be basal-like. However, there are some cases with few chromosomal alterations in TN, whose prognosis was very poor. These tumors were considered to be Claudin-low subtype. Conclusions: The incidence and biological significance of LOH at TSGs are different among breast cancer subtypes. Coexistence of LOH at both BRCA1 and TP53 loci was associated with gross chromosomal aberrations and poor prognosis. Citation Information: Cancer Res 2013;73(24 Suppl): Abstract nr P2-08-04.


Background

The nature of the healthcare workers' jobs standing at the frontline against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) puts them at a higher risk of unknowingly contracting the disease and potentially contributing to the spread. This study aims to assess the overall positive seroconversion prevalence of SARS-CoV-2.
Methods

This is a longitudinal cohort study of healthcare workers at a tertiary hospital serving patients in several districts in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Participants were recruited between June - December 2020. Each participant had a serology blood test and completed the World Health Organization's risk factors assessment questionnaire.
Results

 This study included 682 participants working in any capacity at a tertiary hospital, representing 15.7% of our population. Only 87 participants tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, a prevalence of 12.7% of all participants. Of the 87 participants, 17 participants never tested positive for COVID-19 rt-PCR before the study, a prevalence of 2.9%. Moreover, the improper technique of using alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water after the risk of body fluid exposure and wearing personal protective equipment when indicated were found to be statistically significant to having positive SARS-CoV-2 IgG assay with P=0.02, P=0.03, and CI: 95% respectively.
Conclusion

Positive seroconversion rate was considerably low during the first wave of COVID-19 amongst our healthcare workers and similar to other healthcare organizations in Saudi Arabia. Seropositivity correlated significantly with adherence to infection prevention and control recommendations.


The dispersion relations of normal modes in the layered constructions are studied. In the frequency region with negative permittivity, we investigate the normal modes near the air-metal and the air—matematerial interfaces and compare them. An extra bulk mode appearing in a pass band of two media is found near the air—matematerial interface, which is different from the air—metal case. Moreover, the bulk mode will be further proved by the attenuated total reflection (ATR) technique, in which the coupling between the incident electromagnetic waves and the normal modes is studied. For p-polarized incident waves, the ATR spectra based on the Otto and the Kretschmann configurations are obtained numerically, where the dips present the excitations of the surface and bulk modes. Furthermore, we also discuss the influences of the middle layer thickness, the incident angle and the damping term on the reflection in detail. It is found that the coupling frequencies and the maximum strength are strongly dependent on the above media parameters.


Based on the 2004-2005 otter trawl survey data and the 1980-2007 relevant historical records, this paper analyzed the variations of fish species composition, faunal assemblage, diversity indices, dominant species, and abundance in Daya Bay. In the 2004-2005 trawl survey, a total of 107 fish species were recorded, belonging to 50 families and 13 orders, among which, meso-demersal fish were predominant, with 48 species recorded, and followed by pelagic and demersal fishes, with 37 and 21 species, respectively. The fishes in the Bay belonged to tropical and subtropical fauna, with the dominance of warm water fishes (97 species) and warm-temperate water fishes (10 species). The diversity index was the highest in summer (3.82), followed by in winter (3.37) and autumn (3.00), and the lowest in spring (2.40). The seasonal variation of Pielou evenness index mimicked that of diversity index. In 1980-2007, the characteristics of fish community in the Bay changed obviously. The species number reduced from 157 species in the 1980s to 110 species in the 1990s and to 107 species in 2004-2005, and the dominant species shifted from the high-value fishes such as hairtail and pomfret in the 1980s to low-value fishes such as sardine fish, anchovy, and juvenile porgy. A non-linear regression model composed of inter-annual trend and seasonal cycle was used to simulate the changes of fish stock density in 1980-1999 and 1990-2007, and the results indicated that in the two periods, the fish stock density in the Bay all showed a decreasing trend, but the decrement was larger in 1990-2007 than in 1980-1999. The seasonal variation of the stock density in 1980-1999 was relatively small, with an amplitude being 0.099, while that in 1990-2007 was relatively larger, with the amplitude being 0.420, illustrating that the fish abundance in the Bay had a larger seasonal fluctuation in 1990-2007.


Buildings from the so called Million programme has a high use of energy and in addition, there are many such houses. The need for them to be retrofitted is big. The City of Helsingborg has set a climate goal which states that the city in 2035 should be neutral in energy use which put a lot of pressure on the real estate owners in the city. All new buildings has to be energy efficient and older buildings has to be retrofitted to a standard which makes it possible to reach the goal. AB Helsingborgshem owns many buildings at Drottninghog in Helsingborg which are all built during the Million programme. Drottninghog is undergoing a project where the goal is to lift the whole area. One part of the project is to raise the standards of living and also lower the energy use of the buildings with 30 procent based on a demand from AB Helsingborgshem. Our focus has been to find technical solutions that can be used to retrofit these buildings to lower the energy use even more. Our goal has been to reach the standard of zero energy buildings. We have studied similar projects where the goal has been to lower the energy use in buildings from the Million programme. We have based on these studies found technical solutions that can be applied to Gronkullagatan 29, which is the building we have chosen as our reference object. We have gathered all the technical solutions useable to lower the energy use at Gronkullagatan 29. These has been presented with their pros and cons and summarized in a priority list over which solutions we wanted to use. We have taken a closer look to the solutions by simulating them in IDA Indoor Climate and Energy. We have used a model of the building to simulate the energy use over a year and compared the results of the usage for the different solutions. All our choices are based on the energy use and not the economy. Our results show that you can reach the standard of passive house by replacing the windows, installing air supply with heat exchange and additional insulation for the walls. It seems to be difficult but not impossible to reach such low energy use so that solar cells can compensate the use and the standard of a zero energy house can be reached. (Less)


The members of the International Network for the Analysis of Intergenerational Relations (Generationes) proudly present the most recent issue of the jointly produced compendium "Generations, Intergenerational Relations and Generational Policy". This new version includes seven languages (English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish (New) and Portuguese (New)). Its layout is designed for using it to translate the specific concepts and terminology of research into generations and intergenerational relations from one language into another.


This article addresses biochar from a legal point of view. It analyses different policies and regulations from a European (Flemish) point of view and provides a first and general insight in what potential legal constraints the development of a biochar industry might face and what opportunities lie ahead. This is due to the fact that biochar is a recent product and a lot of scientific uncertainty still exists regarding the consequences of its application. From the analysis it appears a multitude of policies and legislative measures influence the development of the biochar industry. Hence, it is important that all these policies and legislative measures are analyzed in an appropriate manner. Moreover, considerable lobbying, negotiating and cooperation between different disciplines (legal, scientific, economical, etc.) will be required so as to develop a feasible and safe biochar framework.


Prefabricated building systems are becoming popular again, promising more than just affordable architecture. The new paradigm offers consistency, predictable environmental control, modular flexibility, and quick assembly. Above all, this type of construction may be the only promise in obtaining a sustainable architecture for our future. The language of prefabricated building is not new and offers varied solutions ranging from a 'kit-of-parts' to fully assembled modules. This paper attempts to diagnose and evaluate prefabricated modular building systems. It aims to categorise various modular systems and to observe their attributes regarding materials, flexibility, structural integrity, delivery and constructability. Finally, the paper suggests that pre-fabricated architecture can deliver high order design and diversity within the framework of waste reduction, renewable systems integration and optimal performance.


This article examines the representations of Saudi women driving that circulated shortly after the lifting of the ban and considers the social, commercial and technological forces that helped to shape those representations . A corpus of images was collected from two international image banks – Getty and Shutterstock – as well as from a Google Image search. The images use Van Leeuwen's (2008) visual representation framework in Discourse and Practice: New Tools for Critical Analysis, paying particular attention to the similarities and differences between the images available in the image banks and those that were made prominent in the Google search. In addition, semantic metadata accompanying these images were also analysed in order to understand the linguistic constraints that had been put on searches for these images and the ontologies of the issue that they promoted. Finally, a more detailed analysis was performed on images that had been appropriated into different contexts such as news stories and advertisements to investigate how these images were adapted to support different political, cultural and commercial agendas. Findings suggest that images of Saudi women that circulated online internationally shortly after the lifting of the ban were mostly generic and decontextualized, creating simplified and trivialized depictions of gender relations and social change in the Kingdom. The analysis shows how commercial concerns which influence both the creation of stock images and the way they are taken up by news organizations and advertisers can sometimes have the effect of erasing the complexity of political events and reinforcing the very stereotypes they seem to be challenging.


A versatile method for the preparation of aryldifluoromethylphosphonates has been developed. This represents the first example of copper-catalyzed difluoroalkylation of ArBr and provides a useful and facile access to diverse aryldifluoromethylphosphonates that are difficult to prepare otherwise.


This study attempts to develop a model for perceived organizational support (POS) in medium enterprises and to empirically examine the antecedents of perceived organizational support (POS) and organizational commitment (OC.) Most POS study had been conducted in a Western setting. The current study is conducted in a non-Western setting, specifically in Malaysia. The research particularly focuses on the antecedents of perceived organizational support (POS) that may influence the perceptions on organizational commitment (OC) held by employees of medium enterprises. The effect of national culture and value congruence on organizational commitment will also be examined. A tentative research model is developed based on an extensive literature review. Qualitative field study was carried out to explore perceived organizational support (POS) in selected medium enterprises in Malaysia. Field interviews were conducted with employees and human resource practitioners of selected medium enterprise in the Malaysia manufacturing sector. The data were analysed via content analysis. The results explained the antecedents of perceived organizational support especially among employees of medium enterprises and its effect on organizational commitment.


We consider the problem of transporting containers from one port to another using a fleet of ships. Each ship has a capacity constraint that limits the total number of containers it can carry; each ship calls on a specific set of ports that is referred to as its route and each ship follows a fixed route with a fixed departure time at each port. Each container has a release date, that is, the date when it becomes available for shipping at its origination port; it cannot be loaded onto a ship before its release date. Also, each container has an importance factor referred to as its weight. The delivery time of a container is defined as the time when the container is delivered by a ship at its destination port. We consider the problem of minimizing the total weighted delivery times over all containers. We consider three scenarios with regard to the routes of the ships, namely, (i) identical routes, (ii) nested routes, and (iii) arbitrary routes. We determine the computational complexity of the problems and provide heuristics with their worst‐case analyses. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2012


CONTACT MODULATORS, or "choppers," are frequently used in modern circuit design where modulation (or demodulation) at a fixed frequency is required. Their advantages for this service include extremely high ratios of open-circuit to closed-circuit resistance, almost negligible internal noise, and excellent stability and reproducibility. These properties make the contact modulator particularly suitable for use in several types of d-c and a-c amplifiers as well as in d-c servomechanisms employing a-c control elements.


Triptych: Shopping for tax advantages: what can (and cannot) be done to prevent it. The following article is the final part of a triptych, each panel of which is independent of but also complements the other two. The theme of the triptych is what measures are possible – and impossible – in combating conduit arrangements under EU law. The first panel was published in EC Tax Review 2009/6 and deals with the issue of when Member States – specifically in their capacity as source state – can deny advantages to conduit companies under the EU freedom of establishment. The second panel, which was published in EC Tax Review 2010/5, examines the measures applied by four large Member States to combat dividend tax-saving arrangements involving EU conduit companies. In this third and final panel, the authors make recommendations to the Member States as regards the tools they can use to combat such arrangements.


All the four Jesuit Colleges in Tamil Nadu, India are trying to reach out to the rural masses. They are autonomous colleges and hence can operate to modify the curriculum to suit the needs of various outreach programmes that reach out to the rural masses badly in need of concern and attention. St. Xavier's College, Palayamkottai; Arulanandar College, Karumathur; St. Joseph's College, Trichirappalli and Loyola College, Chennai, are the four Jesuit colleges in Tamil Nadu. These are well known colleges in Tamil Nadu, India.
All these colleges have outreach programmes: in particular, STAND (Students Training and Action for Neighbourhood Development), ARISE (Arulanandar Rural Initiative for Social and Education), LEAP (Loyola
Education Action Programme) and SHEPHERD (Science and Humanities for People's Development). These programmes are carried out by the college students with the guidance of the staff besides the government sponsored NSS activities.
LEAP has adopts slums in the city for its operations. Other colleges have adopted villages for their operation. Though each college operates the outreach programme in its own way, I have codified it under one category with the available information. Certain facts are more applicable to one college than the other.


PurposeThis study aimed at understanding the use of paintings outside of an art-related context, in the English version of Wikipedia.Design/methodology/approachFor this investigation, the authors identified 8,104 paintings used in 10,008 articles of the English Wikipedia edition. The authors manually coded the topic of the article in question, documented the number of monthly average views and identified the originating museum. They analysed the use of images based on frequency of use, frequency of view, associated topics and location. Early in the analysis three distinct perspectives emerged: the readers of the online encyclopaedia, the editors of the articles and the museum organisations providing the painting images (directly or indirectly).FindingsWikipedia is a widely used online information resource where images of paintings serve as visual reference to illustrate articles, notably also beyond an art-related topic and where no alternative image is available – as in the case of historic portraits. Editors used paintings as illustration of the work itself or art-related movement, but also as illustration of past events, as alternative to photographs, as well as to represent a concept or technique. Images have been used to illustrate up to 76 articles, evidencing the polysemic nature of paintings. The authors conclude that images of paintings are highly valuable information sources, also beyond an art-related context. They also find that Wikipedia is an important dissemination channel for museum collections. While art-related articles contain greater number of paintings, these receive less views than non-art-related articles containing fewer paintings. Readers of all topics, predominantly history, science and geographic articles, viewed art pieces outside of an art context. Painting images in Wikipedia receive a much larger online audience than the physical painting does when compared to the number of museum onsite visitors. The authors' results confirm the presence of a strong long-tail pattern in the frequency of image use (only 3% of painting images are used in a Wikipedia article), image view and museums represented, characteristic of network dynamics of the Internet.Research limitations/implicationsWhile this is the first analysis of the complete collection of paintings in the English Wikipedia, the authors' results are conservative as many paintings are not identified as such in Wikidata, used for automatic harvesting. Tools to analyse image view specifically are not yet available and user privacy is highly protected, limiting the disaggregation of user data. This study serves to document a lack of diversity in image availability for global online consumption, favouring well-known Western objects. At the same time, the study evidences the need to diversify the use of images to reflect a more global perspective, particularly where paintings are used to represent concepts of techniques.Practical implicationsMuseums wanting to increase visibility can target the reuse of their collections in non-art-related articles, which received 88% of all views in the authors' sample. Given the few museums collaborating with the Wikimedia Foundation and the apparent inefficiency resulting from leaving the use of paintings as illustration to the crowd, as only 3% of painting images are used, suggests further collaborative efforts to reposition museum content may be beneficial.Social implicationsThis paper highlights the reach of Wikipedia as information source, where museum content can be positioned to reach a greater user group beyond the usual museum visitor, in turn increasing visual and digital literacy.Originality/valueThis is the first study that documents the frequency of use and views, the topical use and the originating institution of "all the paintings" in the English Wikipedia edition.


One major challenge for grid environments is how to efficiently utilize geographically distributed resources given large communication latency introduced by wide area networks interconnecting different grid sites. In this paper, we use optical networks to connect four clusters from three different sites: Texas A&M University, University of Illinois at Chicago, and University of California at San Diego to form an optical grid as an OptIPuter testbed, and execute parallel visualization applications and scientific applications to analyze the performance of these applications on the optical grid. Our experiments indicate that on-demand scheduling for resource allocation on different grid sites ensures to run MPI programs on the grid successfully. We explore the dedicated optical grid for different purpose of usage with on-demand scheduling to address how the optical grid impacts the performance of parallel programs. To avoid the large across-site communication latency, the ideal applications for the optical grid are embarrassingly parallel.


[1] Comparisons of Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) water vapor retrievals with in situ measurements are presented. Global comparisons of TES water vapor retrievals with nighttime National Centers for Environmental Prediction RS90/RS92 radiosondes show a small (<5%) moist bias in TES retrievals in the lower troposphere (standard deviation of ∼20%), increasing to a maximum of ∼15% bias (with standard deviation reaching ∼40%) in the upper troposphere. This moist bias with respect to the sonde bias increases to a maximum of ∼15% in the upper troposphere between ∼300–200 hPa. The standard deviation in this region reaches values of ∼40%. It is important to note that the TES reported water vapor comparison statistics are not weighted by the water vapor layer amounts. Global TES/radiosonde results are comparable with the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder reported unweighted mean of 25% and root-mean-square of ∼55%. While such global comparisons help to identify general issues, inherent sampling errors and radiosonde measurement accuracy can limit the degree to which the radiosonde profiles alone can be used to validate satellite retrievals. In order to characterize the agreement of TES with in situ measurements in detail, radiance closure studies were performed using data from the Water Vapor Validation Experiment – Satellites/Sondes campaign from July 2006. Results indicate that estimated systematic errors from the forward model, TES measurements, in situ observations, retrieved temperature profiles, and clouds are likely not large enough to account for radiance differences between TES observations and forward model calculations using in situ profiles as input. Therefore, accurate validation of TES water vapor retrievals requires further campaigns with a larger variety of water vapor measurements that better characterize the atmospheric state within the TES field of view.


AIM
To define the optimal treatment of postoperative ventral hernias.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
It was performed microscopic examination of intraoperative specimens which were obtained from 40 patients with medium, large and giant hernia. The aim was to reveal ultrastructural changes and morphological features which are associated with abdominal wall weakness in case of postoperative ventral hernia. There were 28 (70%) cases of primary postoperative hernia and 12 (30%) cases of recurrent and multiple-recurrent hernia. In 4 patients polypropylene mesh implants were implanted prior to recurrence. Tissue specimens were obtained from the top of herniation, hernial ring and in 6 cm from the hernial ring.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Electron microscopy showed that postoperative ventral hernias are accompanied by ultrastructural destructive changes in cells of the skin, aponeurosis and muscles that indicates on morphofunctional failure of abdominal wall tissues. Swelling and degradation of collagen, fibroblasts vacuolization, capillary sludge of erythrocytes, development of vacuum zones with the fragments of altered collagen fibrils, red blood cells and mast cells are morphological signs of micronecrosis followed by abdominal wall weakness and postoperative ventral hernias.

CONCLUSION
Postoperative ventral hernias are associated with morphological and functional failure of abdominal wall due to tissue destructive changes. Therefore, this obviously defective tissue can not be used per se and especially with tension. Mesh implants should be applied.


Selection of the operative route for cavernous sinus related lesions, the extent of the exposure necessary, the need for intraoperative control of the carotid artery and feasibility and need of radical resection depend on the histological nature of the tumour. The age and sex of the patient, principal presenting signs, size of the tumour, extent of cranial nerve and carotid artery involvement, imaging characters and other such features are helpful in estimating the consistency and vascularity of the lesion, site of origin and direction of its spread, and the extent and nature of cavernous sinus involvement. Evaluation of the histology of the lesion on the basis of the radiological and clinical parameters and the impact on decision regarding the surgical strategy is discussed in the present report.


OVERACTIVATION OF EPIDERMAL growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling has been recognized as an important step in the pathogenesis and progression of multiple forms of cancer of epithelial origin. This knowledge has led to a surge of interest in novel anticancer therapies targeting key constituents of the EGFR signal transduction pathway. Several molecular strategies have been developed recently to modulate either EGFR or the downstream signal beyond the cell surface receptor. The important role of aberrant EGFR signaling in the progression of malignant gliomas makes EGFR-targeted therapies of particular interest in this form of cancer. The use of anti-EGFR therapies against malignant brain tumors, although in its infancy, promises to yield exciting results as these new drugs probably will enhance the usefulness of existing therapies.


Abstract This study investigates the effects of various dimensions on job satisfaction, using a sample of Turkish frontline employees in Northern Cyprus hotels as its setting. Results suggest that pay and supervision have significant positive effects on the job satisfaction of frontline employees, whereas the work itself and physical evidence do not have any significant relationship with job satisfaction. The implications of the results for hotel managers and public policy makers are discussed.


We previously reported dipeptidomimetic compounds as inhibitors of neuronal and/or inducible NO synthases (n/iNOS) with significant selectivity against endothelial NOS (eNOS). They were composed of an S-ethylisothiocitrullin-like moiety linked to an extension through a peptide bond or a 1,2,4-oxadiazole link. Here, we developed two further series where the extension size was increased to establish more favorable interactions in the NOS substrate access channel. The extension was introduced on the solid phase by the reductive alkylation of an amino-piperidine moiety or an aminoethyl segment in the case of dipeptide-like and 1,2,4-oxadiazole compounds, respectively, with various benzaldehydes. Compared to the previous series, more potent inhibitors were identified with IC50 in the micromolar to the submicromolar range, with significant selectivity toward nNOS. As expected, most compounds did not inhibit eNOS, and molecular modeling was carried out to characterize the reasons for the selectivity toward nNOS over eNOS. Spectral studies showed that compounds were interacting at the heme active site. Finally, selected inhibitors were found to inhibit intra-cellular iNOS and nNOS expressed in RAW264.7 and INS-1 cells, respectively.


Abstract The purpose of the study is presentation of the method of increasing the competitiveness of the mining industry through the demonstration of the possibility and potential in closing the loop of supply chains through waste management. A critical analysis of the source literature and an arithmetic analysis of statistical data in static and dynamic perspectives were accepted to be the research method. It has been found that the structure of the level of mining wastes and the level of their recovery rates demonstrate a large potential of closing the loop of chains in this industry and, at the same time, a potential to extend the chains through directing the material from recovery to various sectors. This constitutes an example of the direction of activities that are in line with the EU strategies for the economies of other states which possess this type wastes.


Conventional fuzzy control can be considered mainly composed of fuzzy two-term control and fuzzy three-term control. In this paper, more systematic analysis and design are given for the conventional fuzzy control. A general robust rule base is proposed for fuzzy two-term control, leaving the optimum tuning to the scaling gains, which greatly reduces the difficulties of design and tuning. The digital implementation of fuzzy control is also presented for avoiding the influence of the sampling time. Based on the results of previous fuzzy two-term controllers, a simplified fuzzy three-term controller is proposed to enhance performance. A two-level tuning strategy is also planned, which first tries to set up the relationship between fuzzy proportional/integral/derivative gain and scaling gains at the high level, and optionally tunes the control resolution at low level. Simulation of different order models show the characteristics of fuzzy control, effectiveness of the new design methodologies, and advantages of the enhanced fuzzy three-term control.


The telomere and telomerase are anti-aging biomolecules. Telomerase is an immortal enzyme. It maintains telomere length and promotes longevity. Telomerase holds future for anti-aging medicines. The anti-aging therapy has dramatic impact on public health by reducing the burden of age-related health difficulties- dementia, stroke, cancer and prolonging the quality of life. TA-65 (10-15 mg daily) is first formulation 1-2 , derived from Chinese herb. Astragalus, for the activation of telomerase and maintenance of telomere healthiness. The nutritional destiny offers biochemical preventions against multiple pathologies related to telomere shortening. The life style free from the oxidative stress, anxiety, alcoholism, and spurious addictions prevent chromosomal abbreviations.


A fundamental question in the investigation of episodic memory is how the human brain represents information from the past.

This thesis introduces a new method that tracks content specific representations in rhythmic fluctuations of brain activity (i.e. brain oscillations). It is demonstrated that a frequency band centred at 8 Hz carries information about remembered stimulus content. This is shown in human electrophysiological recordings during
episodic memory formation and retrieval.

Strong and sustained power decreases consistently mark this 8 Hz frequency band; successful memory encoding and retrieval are associated with power decreases in low frequencies (<30 Hz) throughout this thesis and in numerous former studies. The presented results link power decreases to the reinstatement of oscillatory patterns in sensory specific areas for the first time and therefore implicate them in the representation of information.

Finally, the temporal dynamics of recollection are investigated by tracking information from distinct sub-events in continuous episodic memories. In behavioural and neural data, memory replay is faster than perception and takes place in a forward direction. Herein, fragments of fine-grained temporal patterns are reinstated; yet, subjects can skip flexibly between sub-events. Leveraging oscillatory mechanisms to track information can
therefore identify episodic memory replay as a dynamic process.


A linear theory of a rectangular Cerenkov maser (RCM) with a sheet electron beam is developed by using the field-match method. Based on the three-dimensional beam-wave interaction model proposed in this paper, a hybrid-mode dispersion equation and its analytical solution are derived for the RCM. Through numerical calculations, the effects of the beam-grating gap, beam thickness, current density, beam voltage and waveguide width on the linear growth rate are analysed. Moreover, the performance difference between the RCM with the closed transverse boundary and that with the upper open boundary is compared. The results show that the closed RCM model can avoid the effect of RF radiation on beam-wave interaction, which is more rational for practical applications.


Human footsteps generate broadband frequency vibrations in the ground/floor and sound in the air from a few Hertz up to ultrasonic frequencies due to striking and sliding contacts between a foot and the ground/floor. The high-frequency (above 1 kHz) vibrations from footsteps were detected on a building floor, but were not detected on the outdoor ground, even at 1 m from a walker. This paper presents results of ultrasound registration from footsteps on the ground at greater distances. Results are based on sound measurements in air, since the sound absorption in air is less than vibration absorption in the ground.


A versatile chemical activation approach for the fabrication of sustainable porous carbons with a pore network tunable from micro- to hierarchical micro-/mesoporous is hereby presented. It is based on the use of a less corrosive and less toxic chemical, i.e., potassium oxalate, rather than the widely used KOH. The fabrication procedure is exemplified for glucose as precursor, although it can be extended to other biomass derivatives (saccharides) with similar results. When potassium oxalate alone is used as activating agent, highly microporous carbons are obtained (SBET ≈ 1300-1700 m2 g-1). When a melamine-mediated activation process is used, hierarchical micro-/mesoporous carbons with surface areas as large as 3500 m2 g-1 are obtained. The microporous carbons are excellent adsorbents for CO2 capture at low pressure and room temperature, able to adsorb 4.2-4.5 mmol CO2 g-1 at 1 bar and 1.1-1.4 mmol CO2 g-1 at 0.15 bar. However, the micro-/mesoporous carbons provide record-high room temperature CO2 uptakes at 30 bar of 32-33 mmol g-1 CO2 and 44-49 mmol g-1 CO2 at 50 bar. The findings demonstrate the key relevance of pore size in CO2 capture, with narrow micropores having the leading role at pressures <1 bar and supermicropores/small mesopores at high pressures. In this regard, the fabrication strategy presented here allows fine-tuning of the pore network to maximize both the overall CO2 uptake and the working capacity at any target pressure.


The increasingly demand of Ficus deltoidea (Mas Cotek) and Eurycoma longifolia (Tongkat Ali) medicinal plants due to antidiabetic and aphrosidiac therapeutic properties respectively have resulted in an increase in demand for their herbal medicinal products (HMPs) in Malaysia. The safety and efficacy of such HMPs which are in the form of tea, capsules or tablets relies on the authenticity of the plant raw material used as most of them are exclusively sourced from wild population. Consequently, commercial HMPs claiming to be authentic may be adulterated or contaminated with other plants species. Current identification methods such as organoleptic, microscopic and macroscopic examinations cannot identify plant species in a processed herbal product form due to lacking of indicative morphological features and plants taxonomy. Evaluation of DNA analysis such as the direct DNA sequence analysis (BLASTn and Neighbour-Joining) of the chloroplastic (rbcL and psbA-trnH) and nuclear (ITS2) regions for rapid detection of F. deltoidea and E. longifolia was evaluated. A standard reference materials (SRM) from all barcode regions were successfully cloned into p-Easy-T3. The sequence analysis of these 3 barcode regions showed that same species or closely related species shared high percentage of DNA identity. The phylogenetic analysis showed that rbcL had high discriminatory power in F. deltoidea var. kunstleri and ITS2 for E. longifolia. Identification of F. deltoidea HMPs using DNA barcoding showed that 67% were authentic, 11% were substituted while the identity of 22% could not be conclusively determined. For E.longifolia HMPs, 36% of the tested HMPs were authentic, 27% were substituted and the identity of 37% could not be conclusively determined. Further analysis using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) revealed that 100% of the tested F. deltoidea HMPs were authentic as all samples contained the expected vitexin marker. This include 14% of tested HMPs identified as substitutions using DNA barcoding. Eurycomanone was detected in 43% of E. longifolia HMPs but at lower concentration than root extract In contrast, 14% of the tested HMPs which were authentic using DNA barcoding were found not to contain the expected marker. The ITS2 proved to be the ideal marker for the authentication of both plants HMPs. Using DNA barcoding, the overall study showed that there was fraudulence activities occurred in the HMPs tested. Even though HPLC of herbal compounds require different protocol and different standards for each biomarker, DNA sequence methods were the same for all HMPs. Hence, DNA barcoding should be utilised in authenticating other HMPs available in the Malaysia market. ABSTRACT


Student satisfaction to academic division of university can be achieved by a good and optimal service performance of academic division. The object of the research is Higher education students in Garut Regency. The Purpose of the research is to find out how performance of Higher education institution's academic division in Garut Regency.Is this performance has satisfying students as a consumer or not. If not, what factor that influenced. Based on conceptual framework, hypothetical has been made that is academic division performance influence to student satisfactory in their own university. Analytical methods that used is descriptive analytics for respondent responses and path analytic for influence. Validity and reability test is used for reseach instrument, and Successive Interval Methods is used to change data from ordinal to interval data. Based on founding and discussion can concluded respondent based on gender are quiet balance and the most experienced on academic service is 3 years (6 semester). Tangible, realibility, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy variables both together and partial is influence on consument satisfaction. Then, reability variables is the one who dominated influence on consument satisfactory.


We describe a dispersive Faraday optical probe of atomic spin which performs a weak measurement of spin projection of a quantum gas continuously for more than one second. To date, focusing bright far-off-resonance probes onto quantum gases has proved invasive due to strong scalar and vector light shifts exerting dipole and Stern-Gerlach forces. We show that tuning the probe near the magic-zero wavelength at 790 nm between the fine-structure doublet of 87Rb cancels the scalar light shift, and careful control of polarization eliminates the vector light shift. Faraday rotations due to each fine-structure line reinforce at this wavelength, enhancing the signal-to-noise ratio for a fixed rate of probe-induced decoherence. Using this minimally invasive spin probe, we perform microscale atomic magnetometry at high temporal resolution. Spectrogram analysis of the Larmor precession signal of a single spinor Bose-Einstein condensate measures a time-varying magnetic field strength with 1 mu G accuracy every 5 ms; or, equivalently, makes more than 200 successive measurements each at 10 pT root Hz sensitivity.


Histologic specimens from 61 cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma of the head and neck were reviewed in order to determine prognostic factors of this peculiar neoplasm. After the tumor was reviewed and classified according to several criteria, follow-up information, which was available in 54 cases, was analyzed and compared with each histological subgroup. As for the histologic pattern, the prognosis of adenoid cystic carcinoma with a solid pattern was worse than that without a solid pattern in respect of 5- and 10-year survival rates. However, there was no difference in 15-year survival between the two groups. Tumors with severe cell atypia showed more malignant behavior than those with moderate or mild atypia (p less than 0.001). Increased mitotic activity of more than two cells in mitosis per high power field was also found to be a sign of poor prognosis (p less than 0.001). Presence of perineural invasion was not correlated with the final outcome of the disease. Cell atypia and mitotic activity as well as the histologic pattern should be evaluated for assessing the degree of malignancy of adenoid cystic carcinoma.


There are widespread concerns about a decline in young people's mental health. One promising direction to address this issue involves group memberships and social identity processes. Despite progress, there are several issues in current theory and research including (1) whether the number of groups to which an individual belongs is related to more positive well-being, (2) better understanding the relationship between group memberships and social identification processes and (3) the need for more comprehensive longitudinal methods. The goal of this study was to address these issues using a three-wave longitudinal design (n = 1331) conducted with high-school students. Both the number and importance (an indicator of social identification) of student extracurricular activities (ECA) were assessed as predictors of six well-being outcomes. Importantly, we also assessed whether identification with the school as the context in which the ECAs were situated mediated this association. Results show that, generally, the number of group memberships had no direct effect on well-being, however, there was a consistent mediation via school identification. When considering number and importance of one model (comprising a subsample) importance emerged as the key predictor. Such findings advance understanding of the social identity and well-being relationship and have practical implications.


Purpose – The Indonesian construction industry has to considerably rise due to the issues of quality
product, organisational performance and global competitiveness faced today, along with settling
several national challenges that continue to plague the construction industry. Delivering high-quality
construction products and services is non-negotiable when competing for contracts with international
constructors. Developing such an assessment system to evaluate the performance of Indonesian construction
companies is an urgent need in order to encourage and motivate the construction companies to continually
improve their performance in the execution of construction works. The purpose of this paper is to empirically
test the key attributes related to the evaluation of quality and performance in the construction project-based
case of Indonesia.
Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted in the five provinces in Indonesia involving
216 construction practitioners from medium and large qualifications of construction companies.
Findings – On the basis of the data analysis results, the study develops the 39 key attributes that can be a
basis for the development of Indonesian building construction project performance assessment system.
The attributes cover construction companies' performance during project implementation, in delivering final
project results and in implementing quality procedures for building construction works.
Originality/value – The outcome of this study is considered significant to provide a tool for the government
to assess the quality performance of contractors in delivering projects against specified standards, and a
guideline for the contractors to improve their competitiveness by implementing continuous quality
improvement. The confirmed attributes developed from this study is an initial step towards developing an
Indonesian construction comprehensive quality performance assessment system.


Author(s): Ching, Christopher | Advisor(s): Bearden, Carrie | Abstract: Coordinated, large-scale efforts to study brain disorders are rare, with most neuroimaging studies collecting fewer than 100 study participants. Neuroimaging research is one of many biomedical fields that have suffered from low study power and reproducibility. Genetic variation and psychiatric disorders confer subtle effects on markers of brain structure and function, further complicating the discovery and validation of reproducible neuroimaging biomarkers. The Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta Analysis Consortium (ENIGMA) has developed harmonized processing and analysis protocols to empower large-scale neuroimaging studies of genetic variation and psychiatric illness. By using standardized methods, prospective meta- and mega-analysis carried out by the ENIGMA consortium improve upon conventional retrospective meta-analyses. ENIGMA working groups include both conventional studies of psychiatric disorders such as the ENIGMA Bipolar Disorder Working Group, as well as genetics-first approaches like the ENIGMA 22q11.2 deletion working group, which study populations at high risk for psychiatric illness. These ENIGMA studies represent the largest collaborative efforts to study neuroimaging markers in their respective disorders. The ENIGMA bipolar working group has reported altered cortical and subcortical volumes, which show significant predictive power in discriminating patient populations. The ENIGMA 22q11.2 deletion syndrome working group has reported robust cortical, subcortical and white matter differences between 22q11.2 deletion subjects and healthy controls, differences between common microdeletion subtypes, as well as associations between 22q11.2 deletion-related psychosis and idiopathic schizophrenia. Large-scale, harmonized processing and analysis efforts such as these make cross-diagnostic comparisons possible on an unprecedented scale. Given the known overlap between major psychiatric disorders, such cross-disorder studies may provide robust markers that improve diagnoses, help monitor disease progression, and provide insights into novel therapeutic targets.