The effect of leadership styles, social capital, and entrepreneurial orientation on organizational effectiveness of social welfare organizations in Malaysia

This study provided a rare opportunity to thoroughly discuss the hampered effectiveness of the Social Welfare Organizations in Malaysia. In line with the above, this study aimed to examine the effect of leadership styles, social capital and entrepreneurial orientation on organizational effectiveness of the Social Welfare Organizations. In this quantitative research, simple random sampling was adopted as the sampling technique to draw conclusions about the entire population. Usable responses were received from 134 Social Welfare Organizations, which accounted to a 56.07% response rate. A combination of IBM SPSS statistical software version 22.0 (SPSS) and the Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was used as the statistical tools to analyse the collected data. Drawing upon the Resource-Based View Theory, the results indicated that the seven main hypotheses (both the direct and mediating hypotheses) were supported, whereas only eight out of fifteen sub-hypotheses were supported. In brief, the findings demonstrated the positive impact of leadership styles, social capital and entrepreneurial orientation on the organizational effectiveness of the Social Welfare Organizations in Malaysia. Also, this research provided evidence that entrepreneurial orientation had a full mediating effect on the relationship between leadership style and organizational effectiveness, while there was partial mediating effect on the relationship between social capital and organizational effectiveness. Correspondingly, Social Welfare Organizations should be encouraged to adopt those practices to enhance the effectiveness of their organizations. Further, the implications, limitations and suggestions of the study were discussed. It was also suggested that the policy-makers should focus on creating awareness regarding the importance of the social aspects and provide supportive national policies which could enhance the organizational effectiveness of Social Welfare Organizations

Au-SN Flip-Chip Solder Bump for Microelectronic and Optoelectronic Applications

As an alternative to the time-consuming solder pre-forms and pastes currently used, a co-electroplating method of eutectic Au-Sn alloy was used in this study. Using a co-electroplating process, it was possible to plate the Au-Sn solder directly onto a wafer at or near the eutectic composition from a single solution. Two distinct phases, Au5Sn and AuSn, were deposited at a composition of 30at.%Sn. The Au-Sn flip-chip joints were formed at 300 and 400 degrees without using any flux. In the case where the samples were reflowed at 300 degrees, only an (Au,Ni)3Sn2 IMC layer formed at the interface between the Au-Sn solder and Ni UBM. On the other hand, two IMC layers, (Au,Ni)3Sn2 and (Au,Ni)3Sn, were found at the interfaces of the samples reflowed at 400 degrees. As the reflow time increased, the thickness of the (Au,Ni)3Sn2 and (Au,Ni)3Sn IMC layers formed at the interface increased and the eutectic lamellae in the bulk solder coarsened.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Ferritin level prospectively predicts hepatocarcinogenesis in patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection

Previous studies have detected a higher level of ferritin in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but a potential causal association between serum ferritin level and hepatocarcinogenesis remains to be clarified. Using a well-established prospective cohort and longitudinally collected serial blood samples, the association between baseline ferritin levels and HCC risk were evaluated in 1,152 patients infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV), a major risk factor for HCC. The association was assessed by Cox proportional hazards regression model using univariate and multivariate analyses and longitudinal analysis. It was demonstrated that HBV patients who developed HCC had a significantly higher baseline ferritin level than those who remained cancer-free (188.00 vs. 108.00 ng/ml, P\u3c0.0001). The patients with a high ferritin level (≥200 ng/ml) had 2.43-fold increased risk of HCC compared to those with lower ferritin levels [hazard ratio (HR), 2.43; 95% confidence interval, 1.63-3.63]. A significant trend of increasing HRs along with elevated ferritin levels was observed (P for trend \u3c0.0001). The association was still significant after multivariate adjustment. Incorporating ferritin into the α-fetoprotein (AFP) model significantly improved the performance of HCC prediction (the area under the curve from 0.74 to 0.77, P=0.003). Longitudinal analysis showed that the average ferritin level in HBV patients who developed HCC was persistently higher than in those who were cancer-free during follow-up. HCC risk reached a peak at approximately the fifth year after baseline ferritin detection. Moreover, stratified analyses showed that the association was noted in both males and females, and was prominent in patients with a low AFP value. In short, serum ferritin level could independently predict the risk of HBV-related HCC and may have a complementary role in AFP-based HCC diagnosis. Future studies are warranted to validate these findings and test its clinical applicability in HCC prevention and management. © 2018, Spandidos Publication

Bi-large neutrino mixing from bilinear R-parity violation with non-universality

We investigate how the bi-large mixing required by the recent neutrino data can be accommodated in the supersymmetric standard model allowing bilinear R-parity violation and non-universal soft terms. In this scheme, the tree-level contribution and the so-called Grossman-Haber one-loop diagrams are two major sources of the neutrino mass matrix. The relative size of these two contributions falls into the right range to generate the atmospheric and solar neutrino mass hierarchy. On the other hand, the bi-large mixing is typically obtained by a mild tuning of input parameters to arrange a partial cancellation among various contributions.Comment: 13 pages, 4 eps figures, revtex

Synthesis and highly visible-induced photocatalytic activity of CNT-CdSe composite for methylene blue solution

Carbon nanotube-cadmium selenide (CNT-CdSe) composite was synthesized by a facile hydrothermal method derived from multi-walled carbon nanotubes as a stating material. The as-prepared products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray analysis, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrophotometer. The as-synthesized CNT-CdSe composite efficiently catalyzed the photodegradation of methylene blue in aqueous solutions under visible-light irradiation, exhibiting higher photocatalytic activity

Retroperitoneal smooth muscle tumor of uncertain malignant potential after hysterectomy: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Smooth muscle tumors of uncertain malignant potential represent a histologically heterogeneous group of uterine smooth muscle tumors that cannot be diagnosed as either benign or malignant. Smooth muscle tumors of uncertain malignant potential are usually clinically benign, but should be considered tumors of low malignant potential because they can occasionally recur or metastasize to distant sites.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 62-year-old Mongol woman diagnosed with a retroperitoneal smooth muscle tumor of uncertain malignant potential and lung metastasis, with a history of prior hysterectomy. The case was initially misdiagnosed as retroperitoneal sarcoma, and our patient received chemotherapy. However, no interval change in the size of the retroperitoneal mass and metastatic lung nodules was seen over a period of at least five years. She underwent partial resection of the retroperitoneal mass for the purposes of debulking and establishing a histopathological diagnosis. The diagnosis of the retroperitoneal mass was then confirmed as a smooth muscle tumor of uncertain malignant potential.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Smooth muscle tumors of uncertain malignant potential have an unpredictable clinical course, and relapses generally appear to occur after a long disease-free interval of up to several years. Therefore, patients diagnosed with smooth muscle tumors of uncertain malignant potential should receive long-term follow-up.</p

Is female preference for large sexual ornaments due to a bias to escape predation risk?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A female preference for intense sexual visual signals is widespread in animals. Although the preferences for a signal <it>per se </it>and for the intensity of the signal were often regarded to have the identical origin, no study has demonstrated if this is true. It was suggested that the female fiddler crabs prefer males with courtship structures because of direct benefit to escape predation. Here we tested if female preference for both components (i.e. presence and size) of the courtship structure in <it>Uca lactea </it>is from the sensory bias to escape predation. If both components have the identical origin, females should show the same response to different-sized courtship structures regardless of predation risk.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>First, we observed responses of mate-searching female <it>U. lactea </it>to courting males with full-sized, half-sized and no semidomes which were experimentally manipulated. Females had a directional preference for males with bigger semidomes within normal variation. Thereafter, we tested the effect of predation risk on the female bias in the non-courtship context. When threatened by an avian mock predator, females preferentially approached burrows with full-sized semidomes regardless of reproductive cycles (i.e. reproductive periods and non-reproductive periods). When the predator cue was absent, however, females preferred burrows with semidomes without discriminating structure size during reproductive periods but did not show any bias during non-reproductive periods.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Results indicate that selection for the size of courtship structures in <it>U. lactea </it>may have an origin in the function to reduce predation risk, but that the preference for males with structures may have evolved by female choice, independent of predation pressure.</p