The relationship between IT infrastructure leveraging, talent management and operational sustainability, and their effects on the business value of the operations strategy

The purpose of this research is to examine the role of information technology (IT) in the adoption of human resources (HR) and environmental management activities, a research topic that has not received much attention in prior literature. Drawing on the theory of operational and dynamic capabilities, we propose a model in which IT infrastructure leveraging enables the firm to create value from its operations management both directly and indirectly through talent management and operational sustainability. We test the model using the structural equation modeling (SEM) technique with an innovative secondary data set collected for a sample of 63 large firms. The empirical analysis suggests that IT infrastructure leveraging enables the firm’s proficiency to manage talent, which in turn facilitates execution of a more sustainable operations strategy to increase firm performance. The analysis also shows that IT infrastructure leveraging impacts firm performance directly in the long-term

Design of a compact objective for SWIR applications

Lately the short-wave infrared (SWIR) has become very important due to the recent appearance on the market of the small detectors with a large focal plane array. Military applications for SWIR cameras include handheld and airborne systems with long range detection requirements, but where volume and weight restrictions must be considered. In this paper we present three different designs of telephoto objectives that have been designed according to three different methods. Firstly the conventional method where the starting point of the design is an existing design. Secondly we will face design starting from the design of an aplanatic system. And finally the simultaneous multiple surfaces (SMS) method, where the starting point is the input wavefronts that we choose. The designs are compared in terms of optical performance, volume, weight and manufacturability. Because the objectives have been designed for the SWIR waveband, the color correction has important implications in the choice of glass that will be discussed in detai

Impact of IT infrastructure on customer service performance: The role of micro-IT capabilities and online customer engagement

Abstract This research argues that information technology (IT) capabilities can be classified in macro-and micro-IT capabilities. We propose that IT infrastructure capability (a macro-IT capability) enables the development of social media and e-business technology capabilities (two micro-IT capabilities) to online engage customers and improve the firm's customer service performance. We test the proposed model by using the variance-based structural equation modelling technique employing an innovative secondary dataset on a sample of 100 small U.S. firms. Results suggest that IT infrastructure capability positively affects customer service performance through two micro-IT capabilities (social media and ebusiness technology) and social and conventional online customer engagement. Keywords: Macro-and Micro-IT Capabilities, Online Customer Engagement, Customer Service Performance. March 24, 2015 Preliminary draft 2 Introduction Information technology (IT) is changing the way firms operate internally as well as improving the firm's relationship with its suppliers and customers This study is positioned on the relationship between macro-and micro-IT capabilities and customer service performance. Prior research on IT and customer service performance has studied the effects of IT infrastructure flexibility and shared knowledge on customer service performance We examine the impact of IT infrastructure capability on customer service performance by introducing into the same equation two new variables: Micro-IT capabilities and the online engagement of customers. Our central thesis is that IT infrastructure capability can create customer value by developing social media and e-business technology capabilities to online engage customers. Social media capability enables social online customer engagement and e-business technology capability facilitates conventional social customer engagement to improve customer service performance. The proposed model is tested using the variance-based structural equation modelling (SEM) technique on a sample of 100 small U.S. firms

Riesgo dietético para la presencia de dislipidemias en escolares

La asociación del consumo de alimentos con la presencia de enfermedades crónicas , en particular con las enfermedades cardiovasculares en niños es limitada . Los factores de riesgo cardiovascular como las dislipidemias, han sido descritos recientemente a edades cada vez más tempranas en los que los niños en edad escolar no han sido la excepción. La dieta de baja calidad es un factor de riesgo que debe ser intervenido y modificado en la población, sobre todo en edades tempranas.Objetivo: Identificar el riesgo dietético por el consumo de alimentos con elevado contenido de azúcares refinados, ácidos grasos saturados y colesterol para la presencia de dislipidemias en escolares. Materiales y métodos: Se diseñó y aplicó una encuesta de frecuencia de consumo de alimentos de riesgo, se calculó el riesgo dietético y se identificaron alteraciones lipídicas en niños. Se utilizó la razón de momios con intervalos de confianza al 95% para la medición del riesgo entre la dieta y las dislipidemias. Resultados: 17% de los escolares de la escuela privada presentaron consumo elevado de colesterol; en la escuela pública 59% presentaron elevado consumo de azúcares refinados, y 29% consumo elevado de ácidos grasos saturados. Las cifras de riesgo de colesterol sérico, triglicéridos y colesterol-LDL se identificaron con mayor frecuencia en los escolares de la institución privada, mientras que las cifras bajas de colesterol-HDL se identificaron con mayor frecuencia en los niños de la escuela pública. 64 escolares con riesgo dietético presentaron al menos un tipo de dislipidemia OR= 0.94; IC 95%, 0.59-1.50. Conclusiones: En ésta población, el consumo elevado de azúcares refinados es el factor de riesgo dietético de mayor frecuencia para la presencia de dislipidemias. La dieta de baja calidad es un factor de riesgo que debe ser modificado en la población, sobre todo en edades temprana

De novo erythroleukemia chromosome features include multiple rearrangements, with special involvement of chromosomes 11 and 19

Erythroid leukemia (ERL or AML-M6) is an uncommon subtype of acute myeloid leukemia, the clinical, morphological, and genetic behavior of which needs further characterization. We analyzed a homogeneous group of 23 de novo AML-M6 patients whose bone marrow cells showed complex karyotypes. We also analyzed eight leukemia cell lines with erythroid phenotype, performing detailed molecular cytogenetic analyses, including spectral karyotyping (SKY) in all samples. The main features are: (1) A majority of patients (56%) had hypodiploidy. Loss of genetic material was the most common genetic change, especially monosomies of chromosome 7 or 18, and deletions of chromosome arm 5q. Taken together, 87% of the cases displayed aberrations involving chromosome 5 or 8. (2) We describe a novel, cryptic, and recurrent translocation, t(11;19)(p11.2;q13.1). Another translocation, t(12;21)(p11.2;q11.2), was found to be recurrent in a patient with ERL and in the K562 cell line. (3) MLL gene rearrangements were detected in 20% of cases (three translocations and three amplifications) and, overall, we defined 52 rearrangements (excluding deletions) with a mean of 2.3 translocations per patient. (4) Of the structural aberrations, 21% involved chromosomes 11 and 19. Most of the rearrangements were unbalanced; only 13 reciprocal translocations were observed. The general picture of chromosomal aberrations in cell lines did not reflect what occurred in patient samples. However, both primary samples and cell lines shared three common breakpoints at 19q13.1, 20q11.2, and 21q11.2. This is the first molecular cytogenetic description of the karyotype abnormalities present in patients with ERL. It should assist in the identification of genes involved in erythroleukemogenesis

Nanoinformatics: developing new computing applications for nanomedicine

Nanoinformatics has recently emerged to address the need of computing applications at the nano level. In this regard, the authors have participated in various initiatives to identify its concepts, foundations and challenges. While nanomaterials open up the possibility for developing new devices in many industrial and scientific areas, they also offer breakthrough perspectives for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. In this paper, we analyze the different aspects of nanoinformatics and suggest five research topics to help catalyze new research and development in the area, particularly focused on nanomedicine. We also encompass the use of informatics to further the biological and clinical applications of basic research in nanoscience and nanotechnology, and the related concept of an extended ?nanotype? to coalesce information related to nanoparticles. We suggest how nanoinformatics could accelerate developments in nanomedicine, similarly to what happened with the Human Genome and other -omics projects, on issues like exchanging modeling and simulation methods and tools, linking toxicity information to clinical and personal databases or developing new approaches for scientific ontologies, among many others

On the Location of the Gamma-ray Emission in the 2008 Outburst in the BL Lacertae Object AO 0235+164 through Observations across the Electromagnetic Spectrum

We present observations of a major outburst at centimeter, millimeter, optical, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths of the BL Lacertae object AO 0235+164. We analyze the timing of multi-waveband variations in the flux and linear polarization, as well as changes in Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) images at 7mm with 0.15 milliarcsecond resolution. The association of the events at different wavebands is confirmed at high statistical significance by probability arguments and Monte-Carlo simulations. A series of sharp peaks in optical linear polarization, as well as a pronounced maximum in the 7 mm polarization of a superluminal jet knot, indicate rapid fluctuations in the degree of ordering of the magnetic field. These results lead us to conclude that the outburst occurred in the jet both in the quasi-stationary "core" and in the superluminal knot, both parsecs downstream of the supermassive black hole. We interpret the outburst as a consequence of the propagation of a disturbance, elongated along the line of sight by light-travel time delays, that passes through a standing recollimation shock in the core and propagates down the jet to create the superluminal knot. The multi-wavelength light curves vary together on long time-scales (months/years), but the correspondence is poorer on shorter time-scales. This, as well as the variability of the polarization and the dual location of the outburst, agrees with the expectations of a multi-zone emission model in which turbulence plays a major role in modulating the synchrotron and inverse Compton fluxes.Comment: Accepted for Publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. 7 pages (including 5 figures). Minor corrections with regard to previous version, as proposed by the refere

Genomic characterization of individuals presenting extreme phenotypes of high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced lung cancer

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may modulate individual susceptibility to carcinogens. We designed a genome-wide association study to characterize individuals presenting extreme phenotypes of high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and we validated our results. We hypothesized that this strategy would enrich the frequencies of the alleles that contribute to the observed traits. We genotyped 2.37 million SNPs in 95 extreme phenotype individuals, that is: heavy smokers that either developed NSCLC at an early age (extreme cases); or did not present NSCLC at an advanced age (extreme controls), selected from a discovery set (n = 3631). We validated significant SNPs in 133 additional subjects with extreme phenotypes selected from databases including >39,000 individuals. Two SNPs were validated: rs12660420 (pcombined  = 5.66 × 10-5 ; ORcombined  = 2.80), mapping to a noncoding transcript exon of PDE10A; and rs6835978 (pcombined  = 1.02 × 10-4 ; ORcombined  = 2.57), an intronic variant in ATP10D. We assessed the relevance of both proteins in early-stage NSCLC. PDE10A and ATP10DmRNA expressions correlated with survival in 821 stage I-II NSCLC patients (p = 0.01 and p < 0.0001). PDE10A protein expression correlated with survival in 149 patients with stage I-II NSCLC (p = 0.002). In conclusion, we validated two variants associated with extreme phenotypes of high and low risk of developing tobacco-induced NSCLC. Our findings may allow to identify individuals presenting high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced NSCLC and to characterize molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis and resistance to develop NSCLC.This work was supported by the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology; Fundación SEOM and Fundación Salud 2000; and Government of Navarra.S

Genomic characterization of individuals presenting extreme phenotypes of high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced lung cancer

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may modulate individual susceptibility to carcinogens. We designed a genome-wide association study to characterize individuals presenting extreme phenotypes of high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and we validated our results. We hypothesized that this strategy would enrich the frequencies of the alleles that contribute to the observed traits. We genotyped 2.37 million SNPs in 95 extreme phenotype individuals, that is: heavy smokers that either developed NSCLC at an early age (extreme cases); or did not present NSCLC at an advanced age (extreme controls), selected from a discovery set (n=3631). We validated significant SNPs in 133 additional subjects with extreme phenotypes selected from databases including >39,000 individuals. Two SNPs were validated: rs12660420 (p(combined)=5.66x10(-5); ORcombined=2.80), mapping to a noncoding transcript exon of PDE10A; and rs6835978 (p(combined)=1.02x10(-4); ORcombined=2.57), an intronic variant in ATP10D. We assessed the relevance of both proteins in early-stage NSCLC. PDE10A and ATP10D mRNA expressions correlated with survival in 821 stage I-II NSCLC patients (p=0.01 and p<0.0001). PDE10A protein expression correlated with survival in 149 patients with stage I-II NSCLC (p=0.002). In conclusion, we validated two variants associated with extreme phenotypes of high and low risk of developing tobacco-induced NSCLC. Our findings may allow to identify individuals presenting high and low risk to develop tobacco-induced NSCLC and to characterize molecular mechanisms of carcinogenesis and resistance to develop NSCLC

Association of candidate genetic variants and circulating levels of ApoE/ApoJ with common neuroimaging features of cerebral amyloid angiopathy

IntroductionCerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid-beta (A beta) in brain vessels and is a main cause of lobar intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in the elderly. CAA is associated with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of small vessel disease (SVD). Since A beta is also accumulated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the brain parenchyma, we aimed to study if several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) previously associated with AD were also associated with CAA pathology. Furthermore, we also studied the influence of APOE and CLU genetic variants in apolipoprotein E (ApoE) and clusterin/apolipoprotein J (ApoJ) circulating levels and their distribution among lipoproteins. MethodsThe study was carried out in a multicentric cohort of 126 patients with lobar ICH and clinical suspicion of CAA. ResultsWe observed several SNPs associated with CAA neuroimaging MRI markers [cortical superficial siderosis (cSS), enlarged perivascular spaces in the centrum semiovale (CSO-EPVS), lobar cerebral microbleeds (CMB), white matter hyperintensities (WMH), corticosubcortical atrophy and CAA-SVD burden score]. Concretely, ABCA7 (rs3764650), CLU (rs9331896 and rs933188), EPHA1 (rs11767557), and TREML2 (rs3747742) were significantly associated with a CAA-SVD burden score. Regarding circulating levels of apolipoproteins, protective AD SNPs of CLU [rs11136000 (T) and rs9331896 (C)] were significantly associated with higher HDL ApoJ content in the lobar ICH cohort. APOE epsilon 2 carriers presented higher plasma and LDL-associated ApoE levels whereas APOE epsilon 4 carriers presented lower plasma ApoE levels. Additionally, we observed that lower circulating ApoJ and ApoE levels were significantly associated with CAA-related MRI markers. More specifically, lower LDL-associated ApoJ and plasma and HDL-associated ApoE levels were significantly associated with CSO-EPVS, lower ApoJ content in HDL with brain atrophy and lower ApoE content in LDL with the extent of cSS. DiscussionThis study reinforces the relevance of lipid metabolism in CAA and cerebrovascular functionality. We propose that ApoJ and ApoE distribution among lipoproteins may be associated with pathological features related to CAA with higher ApoE and ApoJ levels in HDL possibly enhancing atheroprotective, antioxidative, and anti-inflammatory responses in cerebral beta-amyloidosis