bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Derechos legales derivados de la toma de participación de un socio inversor en una sociedad mercantil
Authors: Bermúdez Madrigal Julio
Published: February 2018

Cuando un fondo de capital-riesgo planea la toma de participación en una sociedad mercantil, lo más frecuente es que comience la transacción realizando una “Due Diligence”, normalmente legal y en algunos casos financiera. Este primer paso tiene un cierto coste económico correspondiente a los honorarios de los asesores, por lo que el comienzo de la “Due Diligence” implica que la transacción es factible desde un punto de vista estrictamente de negocio.
Defensa de la competencia, acción de daños y exenciones
Authors: Rodríguez Díaz Isabel
Published: February 2018

El Real Decreto-ley 9/2017, de 26 de mayo, por el que se transponen directivas de la Unión Europea en los ámbitos financiero, mercantil y sanitario, y sobre el desplazamien-to de trabajadores, contiene las modificaciones derivadas de la transposición de la Directiva 2014/104/UE del Parlamento Europeo y del Consejo, de 26 de noviembre de 2014 que es-tablece determinadas normas por las que se rigen, en virtud del Derecho nacional, las ac-ciones de daños resultantes de las infraccio-nes del Derecho de la competencia de los Es-tados miembros y de la Unión Europea. El ci-tado Real Decreto-ley 9/2017 modifica la Ley 15/2007, de 3 de julio, de Defensa de la Com-petencia (LDC), introduciendo un nuevo título VI relativo a la compensación de los daños causados por las prácticas restrictivas de la competencia, que abarca los artículos 71 a 81.
Sobre el concepto de Derecho mercantil
Authors: Espigares Huete José Carlos
Published: February 2018

La delimitación conceptual del Derecho mercantil es una tarea ardua. Son evidentes las dificultades inherentes a la pretensión de obtener un concepto de Derecho mercantil.El “Anteproyecto de Ley del Código Mercantil” aprobado por el Consejo de Ministros el 30 de mayo de 2014 ha actualizado seriamente el debate en relación a lo que deba ser el Derecho mercantil, al pretender reunir en un código buena parte de la normativa reguladora de la disciplina.
The Life and Trials of a Pseudomeningocoele
Authors: Engel Larissa , Manch Maira
Published: February 2018

This case study introduces Ms Z. It discusses her story and the nursing care of her journey with a diagnosis of a pseudomeningocele. This case study was developed using direct interviews with the patient, discussions with the patient’s surgeon, research articles, viewing scans, photos and using the patient’s clinical notes. The patient’s journey with the pseudomeningocele spans over a 20 year period with many up’s and downs throughout, resulting with what is hoped to be a better quality of life.

Ms Z’s symptoms started at the age of sixteen. She experienced severe headaches when she coughed or laughed and was seen by a neurologist at the time but no clear diagnosis was made. Her symptoms continued and after multiple medical appointments, a diagnosis of Chiari Malformation was made. She had her first surgery in 2013 after which Ms Z reported her complications began to occur. She moved to New Zealand and started to get more unwell and presented to a rural emergency department (ED). She has undergone multiple procedures in New Zealand including long term intravenous (IV) antibiotics resulting from an infection previously undiagnosed. Nursing considerations will be discussed throughout the case study including peri and postoperative care for neurosurgical patients with pseudomeningoceles, complications to be aware of, and holistic support for patients - physical, emotional and psychological.
Orientation and Mobility Client Evaluation Tool (CET) Adult
Authors: Gallimore Desirée , Keay Lisa , Tinsley Frances
Published: February 2018

A project team at Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, Australia designed, tested, and statistically validated over a five-year period, a client evaluation tool to assess the progress or achievement of adult clients (18+ years) who participate in orientation and mobility (O&M) programs (including Guide Dog programs). The tool is administered at the commencement of the client’s mobility program and again at its conclusion to provide a pre/post measure. The tool comprises two parts. Part 1, completed by the O&M specialist, measures the degree of vision impairment; client complexity, and the environmental complexity in which the training is being conducted. Part 2 includes the mobility specialist’s rating of the client’s skill and confidence level; and the client’s rating of their own skill and confidence as well as a rationale for their ratings. The tool appears effective in measuring client outcomes for all types of O&M program in any environment; is quick and easy to use, and non-invasive. The paper includes the results of the tool applied by 57 O&M specialists to 361 clients from July 2014 to July 2015 revealing significant improvements in skill and confidence post-program.
Copper (II) oxide thin film for methanol and ethanol sensing
Authors: Parmar Mitesh , Rajanna K.
Published: February 2018

A nanostructured copper (II) oxide film deposited by reactive DC-magnetron sputtering technique, has been studied for static sensor response towards methanol and ethanol by operating temperature and analyte concentration modulations. The optimum operating temperature (Topt) for the sensing of methanol and ethanol is observed to be 350 °C and 400 °C, respectively. The maximum sensitivity observed for 2500 ppm methanol and ethanol is 29% and 15.4% respectively. Another important observation is that the sensitivity time reduces with analyte concentrations, where as recovery time increases. The response time of 2500 ppm methanol and ethanol is 235 s and 247 s correspondingly.
Industrial And Enterprise Greenhouse Gas Emission Data Analysis System
Authors: Li Sheng-jie , Zhang Jian , Qi Lin , Duan Zhi-jie
Published: February 2018

An Industrial and Enterprise Greenhouse Gas Emission Data Analysis System, which meets with the need of those giant energy-consuming enterprises, has been set up through a series of studies about Greenhouse gas (GHG) verification method in industries such as cement, thermal power, cogeneration, transportation, sewage treatment etc. The analysis system consists of six modules: Organization structure; Facility; Activity data input; Emission data analysis; Report generation; Parameters configure. The calculation process is based both on Emission Factor Method and Materials Balance Method, the former method realizes an easy calculation for the GHG emissions conducted from fuel combustion, electricity or steam consumption, general business and office activities, the later one provides a specialized calculation for professional production processes such as cement production, exhaust desulfurization and sewage treatment etc. A thermal boiler’s GHG emission was used as a case to test the system.
A robotic arm to sort different types of ball bearings from the knowledge discovered by size measurements of image regions and RFID support
Authors: Giannoccaro Nicola Ivan , Spedicato Luigi , Lay-Ekuakille Aimè
Published: February 2018

abstract

In this paper, the authors present a mechatronics system consisting of an intelligent robotic arm able to sort ball bearings having the same colour and shape drawing advantage from vision. After acquiring and processing an image from a camera, two almost concentric and circular regions are extracted from the image and their areas are calculated as number of pixels belonging to them. The center of these regions provides the point that the end-effector has to reach in order to grip a cylindrical transport structure where the bearing is placed. Since the size measurements of image regions are very repeatable and the depth between the camera and the object is known, the bearing is recognized from the area. For the sake of automatically appreciating the effectiveness of the proposed approach, a RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) tag is attached to the transport structure that supports the object. The tag contains stored information on the specific bearing for verifying the success in recognition making use of a reader device. Several experimental tests confirmed that the suggested strategy may be applied to track spare parts in assembly lines.
Model Identification And Controller Design For An Electropneumatic Actuator System With Dead Zone Compensation
Authors: Sunar N. H. , Rahmat M. F. , Ismail Zool Hilmi , Faudzi Ahmad ‘Athif Mohd , Salim Sy Najib Sy
Published: February 2018

abstract

Pneumatic actuator system is inexpensive, high power to weight ratio, cleanliness and ease of maintenance make it’s a choice compared to hydraulic actuator and electromagnetic actuator. Nonetheless, the steady state error of the system is high due to the dead zone of the valve. In this paper, an Auto-Regressive with External Input (ARX) model structure is chosen to represent the pneumatic actuator system. The recursive least square method is used to estimate the model parameters. The poleassignment controller is then developed for position tracking. To cater the problem of high in steady state error, the dead zone compensation is added to the system. The dead zone controller was designed based on the inverse dead zone model and the dead zone compensation designed based on the desired error. The proposed method is then experimentally with varies load and compares with Nonlinear PID controller. The result shows that the proposed controller reduced the overshoot and steady state error of the pneumatic actuator system to no overshoot and 0.025mm respectively.
Investigation of Main Injection Quantity Fluctuation due to Pilot Injection in High Pressure Common Rail Fuel Injection System
Authors: Bingqi Tian , Liyun Fan , Xiuzhen Ma , Hayat Qaisar , Yun Bai , Yang Liu
Published: February 2018

abstract

High pressure common rail (HPCR) fuel injection system is the main development trend for fuel injection system of diesel engine. Precise controlling of injection pressure and multiple injections are the advantages and key features of the HPCR system. Affect of pilot injection quantity (PIQ) and pilot-main interval (PMI) on main injection quantity fluctuation (MIQF) has been investigated in this paper by evaluating performance coherence and stability of injection quantity of diesel engine. A numerical model of HPCR system has been development in AMESim environment. Predicting accuracy of the numerical model has been validated by comparing its results with experimental data. The results show that the pilot injection triggers pressure cyclical fluctuation in the electro-injection delivery chamber and gives rise to MIQF. Amplitude of MIQF decreases with increase of PMI and increase with increase of PIQ. Moreover, variation of PIQ has also influence on both the amplitude and the phase of MIQF. Influence of MIQ on amplitude of MIQF depends on how many pressure fluctuation cycles have been incorporated in the main injection.
Posterior Belief Clustering Algorithm For Energy-Efficient Tracking In Wireless Sensor Networksd
Authors: Wu Bo , Feng Yanpeng , Zheng Hongyan
Published: February 2018

abstract

In this paper, we propose a novel posterior belief clustering (PBC) algorithm to solve the tradeoff between target tracking performance and sensors energy consumption in wireless sensor networks. We model the target tracking under dynamic uncertain environment using partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs), and transform the optimization of the tradeoff between tracking performance and energy consumption into yielding the optimal value function of POMDPs. We analyze the error of a class of continuous posterior beliefs by Kullback–Leibler (KL) divergence, and cluster these posterior beliefs into one based on the error of KL divergence. So, we calculate the posterior reward value only once for each cluster to eliminate repeated computation. The numerical results show that the proposed algorithm has its effectiveness in optimizing the tradeoff between tracking performance and energy consumption.
A Sensitive Digital Moisture Detector For Nanostructured Thin Film Sensor
Authors: Islam Tarikul , Khan MD. Firoz A. , Khan S. A. , Saha H.
Published: February 2018

abstract

A digital moisture measuring instrument based on phase angle measuring technique with porous silicon (PSi) or porous alumina (PA) as capacitive moisture sensor is proposed. The proposed technique can measure digitally the phase angle change of capacitive impedance of porous silicon or porous alumina sensor due to change in moisture concentration in terms of clock pulses. Analysis shows that the proposed circuit leads to higher precision by minimizing the errors caused by parasitic earth capacitance as well as offset voltage in the circuit. Simulation and experimental results are reported to confirm the effectiveness of the technique.
Surface Following With An Rgb-D Vision-Guided Robotic System For Automated And Rapid Vehicle Inspection
Authors: Nakhaeinia Danial , Payeur Pierre , Chávez-Aragón Alberto , Cretu Ana-Maria , Laganière Robert , Macknojia Rizwan
Published: February 2018

This paper presents the design and integration of a vision-guided robotic system for automated and rapid vehicle inspection. The main goal of this work is to scan and explore regions of interest over an automotive vehicle while a manipulator’s end effector operates in close proximity of the vehicle and safely accommodates its curves and inherent surface obstacles, such as outside mirrors or door handles, in order to perform a series of close inspection tasks. The project is motivated by applications in automated vehicle inspection, cleaning, and security screening. In order to efficiently navigate the robotic manipulator along the vehicle’s surface within regions of interest that are selectively identified, an efficient and accurate integration of information from multiple RGB-D sensors and robotic components is proposed. The main components of the proposed approach include: automated vehicle category recognition from visual information; RGB-D sensors calibration; extraction of specific areas to inspect over the vehicle body, and path planning from an efficiently reconstructed 3D surface mesh to move the robotic arm along and in close proximity of the vehicle. The proposed multi-stage system developed merges all components to achieve rapid 3D profiling over a complex surface in order to fully automate the process of surface following for vehicles of various types and shapes. To validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method experiments are carried out with a 7-DOF manipulator navigating over automotive body panels
Non Invasive Estimation Of Blood Urea Concentration Using Near Infrared Spectroscopy
Authors: Ramasahayam Swathi , Chowdhury Shubhajit Roy
Published: February 2018

This paper details about the noninvasive estimation of Urea concentration in blood using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and Artificial neural network based prediction model. The absorption spectrum of the urea has been studied experimentally in order to choose the wavelengths of peak absorption. For this purpose, IR absorption spectrum of 0.1M aqueous urea solution has been collected and analyzed in second overtone region of the near-infra red spectra using the Bruker tensor 27 FTIR spectrometer. Based on the theoretical analysis the optimal wavelength of sensor is found to be 995nm for obtaining proper Photo plethysmograph (PPG). The regression analysis has been carried out on PPG signal with the artificial neural networks for obtaining a prediction model for estimating the blood urea concentration. The mean square error ofprediction is found to be ± 2.23mg/dL.
Multi-Scale Compressed Sensing Based On Split Augmented Lagrangian Shrinkage Algorithm For Image Super-Resolution Reconstruction
Authors: Shu-yao Tian , Chun-hai Hu
Published: February 2018

This paper proposes a multi-scale compressed sensing algorithm in shearlet domain by exploiting discrete Shearlet transform which can optimally represent the images with edges. An image is decomposed by shearlet. The compressed sensing is deployed in each of the directional sub-bands of high frequency scales. And inverse measurement matrix is modified by the upsampling operator to enhance the resolution of image. In addition, the original image reconstructed by compressed sensing based on super-resolution can produce the low subbands with high frequency. And an split augmented lagrangian shrinkage algorithm is exploited for compressed sensing image reconstruction, which can improve reconstruction image quality and convergence rate. Experimental results has shown that the proposed method can reconstruct the image with less iterative time by using fewer samples, improve the computational efficiency as well as achieve the images with high quality
Iot-1-Pass-Security: L(One)-Pass Authenticated Key Agreement Protocol For Energy Constraint Iot Applications
Authors: Aliasgari Mehrdad , Chan Garrett , Mozumdar Mohammad
Published: February 2018

IoT data security is one of the core unresolved challenges in IoT community. Lack of resource-efficient authenticated secure key exchange methods among resource-constrained IoT devices makes man-in-the-middle attacks a serious vulnerability. In this regard, we propose 1(One) pass Authenticated Key Agreement (AKA) protocol for IoT applications. This protocol requires only one round of communication among the sender and receiver to establish a secure session, providing a balance between security (data confidentiality with integrity) and performance. We implemented and performed comprehensive power consumption and timing analysis of our implementation on Contiki platform to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed protocol
Characterization Of Photodectors Using A Monochromator And A Broadband Light Source In The Xyz Color Space
Authors: V. J.-S. Botero , G. F.-E. López , B. J.-F. Vargas
Published: February 2018

Photodetectors are sensors, which respond to the electromagnetic radiation of the spectrum. Their spectral response depends on many factors of the manufacturing process, e.g. the type of diode that is used or, in some cases, the optical elements that are added to limit the response band. In this paper, we propose an experimental methodology to obtain the spectral response of a photodetector by constructing the characteristic curve using the monochromatic response. For this purpose, we use a broadband source as input of the monochromator to vary the wavelength each five nm. The characteristic curves of one commercial color sensor were obtained (including the loss) using the output ratio of the monochromator. Via the numerical expression of the response curve, it is possible to model the actual response of the photodetectors to known or simulated spectra of electromagnetic radiation, and thus to generalize photometric measurements. Previously we have demonstrated the importance of obtaining such measurements to study light sources. Finally, this newly developed method helps studying the behavior of a photodetector in detail; hence, it enables the derivation of photometric measurements from known data or simulations
Semantic Collaboration And Sensing As A Service In Semantic Web Of Things
Authors: Chen X. Y. , Li G. Y.
Published: February 2018

The intrinsic contradiction hidden in the Internet of things, which is the mismatching between the diversification of forms expressing the thing’s information and the insufficiency of understanding ability of the agents using the thing’s information, hinders its intelligent development. Adding a semantic annotation for the expression of thing’s information based on ontology will improve the ability to understand, to reason and to obtain information for the agents, and will essentially promote the Internet of things to “semantic web of things”. For semantic web of things, its open and dynamic natures inevitably determine it is an open service ecosystem, and whether the hyper world itself and the individual in their sub worlds are in continuous development and evolution, so the semantic web of things must be self-adaptive to provide semantic collaboration services. To achieve all, this is based on “sensing as a service”. From different points of view, such as dynamic space, service collaboration and web-based context management services, we analyze semantic collaboration mechanism. Respectively put forward self-adaptiveness formulas and self-adaptive support framework of semantic web of things, propose the definition and architecture of semantic web of things and present sensing as a service model. This paper discusses semantic coordination mechanism and key support technologies for semantic web of things, which lay a theory and technology foundation for subsequent semantic collaboration application schemas, and the application experiments, validation and evaluation of semantic collaboration support system
Novel Svdd-Based Algorithm For Moving Object Detecting And Tracking Under Dynamic Scenes
Authors: Wang Chunxiang , Xu Dongfang , Wang Yongqing
Published: February 2018

Object detecting and tracking is an important technique used in diverse applications of machine vision, and has made great progress with the prevalence of artificial intelligence technology, among which the detecting and tracking moving object under dynamic scenes is more challenging for high requirements on real-time performance and reliability. Essentially analyzing, object detecting and tracking need to classify the objects and background into two different categories according to different features, where the detecting and tracking drift caused by noisy background can be effectively handled by robust maximum margin classifier, such as one-class SVM. But the time and space complexities of traditional one-class SVM methods tend to be high, which limits its wide applications to various fields. Inspired by the idea proposed by Support Vector Data Description (SVDD), in this paper we present a novel SVDD-based algorithm to efficiently deal with detecting and tracking moving object under dynamic scenes. The experimental results on synthetic, benchmark data and real-world videos demonstrate the competitive performances of the proposed method
Weak GPS Acquisition Via Compressed Differential Detection Using Structured Measurement Matrix
Authors: Elango G.Arul , Sudha Gnanou Florence
Published: February 2018

Quality of the acquisition algorithm is the main criteria for assessment of the GPS receiver. Compressed sensing has been used recently in the GPS signal acquisition process to improve the acquisition sensitivity and find visible satellites in the two dimensional search space. In this paper, strategies for constructing the GPS Dictionary matrix using different measurement matrices are analyzed for weak signal conditions. Conventional acquisition methods use pure random or Bernoulli measurement matrices requiring huge storage memory and resulting in high computational cost for faithful sparse signal representation. Based on the restricted isometry and coherence properties, the Kronecker product of hybrid ‘L’ deterministic measurement matrix has been proposed for fast calculation and easy hardware implementation of the GPS acquisition module. Simulation results for weak signals of C/N0 25 dB-Hz show that the compressed sensing combined with post-correlation differential detection scheme has the ability to determine more number of visible satellites. It is inferred that using this approach, 92% probability of obtaining 1.2 times more visible satellites than the uncompressed data length of 8 msec is achieved with lower computation time and significant improvement in average post correlation SNR value of 0.84 dB is obtained for four visible satellites.
Selective Sensing Using Nanostructured Gas Sensors: A Review
Authors: Castelino Roshan , G Pramod N
Published: February 2018

Fabricating a sensor for a toxic gas like carbon monoxide has been a constant need in many domestic and industrial applications. Although many sensors are commercially available, research is focused on developing a selective sensor with higher sensitivity, selectivity and low operating temperature. This paper reviews the fabrication, comparison and evaluation of different nanostructured titanium dioxide sensors used in detection. After a brief description of the structural properties of, the article presents sensing mechanism in semiconductor metal oxide sensors. For a reducing agent like, the surface reactions result in the reduction of sensor resistance. The parameters associated with sensor performance are discussed. The article presents a summary of main research findings in this field. Nanostructured morphologies offer better sensing performance and selectivity. The improved performance due to nanostructured is highlighted. The review clarifies the specific role of for the future research.
Chemical Signals of Vector Beetle Facilitate the Prevalence of a Native Fungus and the Invasive Pinewood Nematode
Authors: ZHANG BIN , ZHANG WEI , LU MIN , AHMAD FAHEEM , TIAN HAOKAI , NING JING , LIU XIAOLONG , ZHAO LILIN , SUN JIANGHUA
Published: February 2018

In China, the invasive Bursaphelenchus xylophilus, the vector Monochamus alternatus beetle, and associated fungi exhibit a symbiotic relationship causing serious losses to pine forests. Although this complex system has been intensively investigated, the role of vector beetles on the development of associated fungi and their indirect contribution to the prevalence of pinewood nematode (PWN) is yet unknown. Here, three of the highly prevalent fungal species, viz., Sporothrix sp. 1, Ophiostoma ips, and Sporothrix sp. 2 were isolated from beetle chambers in diseased trees in Guangdong province, southeast China. Pairwise cultivation of isolated fungi demonstrated the dominance of Sporothrix sp. 1 over O. ips and Sporothrix sp. 2. On the other hand, two fatty acid ethyl esters (FAEE), ethyl palmitate (EP) and ethyl linoleate (EL), isolated from the body surface of the vector beetle enhanced the growth of Sporothrix sp. 1. When PWN were cultured on Sporothrix sp. 1, the fecundity and the body length were increased significantly as compared with when cultured on O. ips and Sporothrix sp. 1. Our results suggest that the vector beetles promote Sporothrix sp. 1 to occupy more niches by rapid growth and spread, which in turn better support PWN population, hence facilitate PWN pathogenicity in the invasive regions.
Mapping Poverty at the Level of Subregions in Poland Using Indirect Estimation
Authors: Szymkowiak Marcin , Młodak Andrzej , Wawrowski Łukasz
Published: February 2018

The European Survey on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) is the basic source of information published by CSO (the Central Statistical Office of Poland) about the relative poverty indicator, both for the country as a whole and at the regional level (NUTS 1). Estimates at lower levels of the territorial division than regions (NUTS 1) or provinces (NUTS 2, also called ’voivodships’) have not been published so far. These estimates can be calculated by means of indirect estimation methods, which rely on information from outside the subpopulation of interest, which usually increases estimation precision. The main aim of this paper is to show results of estimation of the poverty indicator at a lower level of spatial aggregation than the one used so far, that is at the level of subregions in Poland (NUTS 3) using the small area estimation methodology (SAE), i.e. a model–based technique – the EBLUP estimator based on the Fay–Herriot model. By optimally choosing covariates derived from sources unaffected by random errors we can obtain results with adequate precision. A territorial analysis of the scope of poverty in Poland at NUTS 3 level will be also presented in detail4. The article extends the approach presented by Wawrowski (2014).
A New Estimator of Mean Using Double Sampling
Authors: Vadlamudi Kalyan Rao , Sedory Stephen A. , Singh Sarjinder
Published: February 2018

In this paper, we consider the problem of estimation of population mean of a study variable by making use of first-phase sample mean and first-phase sample median of the auxiliary variable at the estimation stage. The proposed new estimator of the population mean is compared to the sample mean estimator, ratio estimator and the difference type estimator for the fixed cost of the survey by using the concept of two-phase sampling. The magnitude of the relative efficiency of the proposed new estimator has been investigated through simulation study.
Relations for Moments of Progressively Type-II Right Censored Order Statistics From Erlang-Truncated Exponential Distribution
Authors: Malik Mansoor Rashid , Kumar Devendra
Published: February 2018

In this paper, we establish some new recurrence relations for the single and product moments of progressively Type-II right censored order statistics from the Erlang-truncated exponential distribution. These relations generalize those established by Aggarwala and Balakrishnan (1996) for standard exponential distribution. These recurrence relations enable computation of mean, variances and covariances of all progressively Type-II right censored order statistics for all sample sizes in a simple and efficient manner. Further an algorithm is discussed which enable us to compute all the means, variances and covariances of Erlang-truncated exponential progressive Type-II right censored order statistics for all sample sizes n and all censoring schemes (R
1, R
2,…, R
m), m < n. By using these relations, we tabulate the means and variances of progressively Type-II right censored order statistics of the Erlang-truncated exponential distribution.
Evaluation of COX-2 expression in renal cell carcinoma and its correlation with clinicopathological factors: a tissue microarray study
Authors: Ashour G.A.R , Said W
Published: February 2018

Objectives: This study, aimed to evaluate the expression of COX-2 in renal cell carcinoma, and correlate it with different patient clinicopathological data, emphasizing on the role of COX-2 as a prognostic factor for renal cell carcinoma and to decide which cases more likely benefit from the targeted therapy later on.

Patients and Methods: The present series consisted of tissue samples obtained from 47 patients (30 patients were males and 17 were females). All the tumor samples were collected from the Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Alexandria University during the period from July 2009 to November 2010. Archival paraffin-embedded renal cell carcinoma tissue samples were used to prepare tissue microarray blocks for immunohistochemical staining with COX-2 antibody. Marker expression was categorized for statistical analysis then correlated to clinicopathological variables.

Results: The histological types was significantly associated with COX-2 expression, with higher expression being more common in papillary and chromophobe renal cell carcinoma, the majority of these two types were in score 1 and 2 while majority of clear cell renal cell carcinoma had score 0 and 1.

Conclusion: The association of COX-2 marker was related to the histologic type of tumor; COX-2 expression study might provide prognostic information regarding tumor aggressiveness. These findings suggested a potential impact of COX-2 targeted therapy in the treatment of renal cell carcinoma with overexpressed COX-2 that needs further investigation.
Ownership concentration, ownership identity, and bank performance
Authors: Azoury Nehme , Azouri Andre , Bouri Elie , Khalife Danielle
Published: February 2018

This paper examines whether ownership concentration and certain type of ownership can affect the financial performance of Lebanese banks. It uses longitudinal data from the largest 35 Lebanese banks over the period 2009–2014 and employs the panel regression model. The empirical results show that ownership concentration and certain type of shareholders play an important role in the area of corporate governance in Lebanese banks. In particular, bank financial performance is positively associated with ownership concentration, managerial ownership, and foreign and institutional ownerships; however, family ownership is not related to bank performance. Also, this paper shows that both ownership concentration and managerial ownership have a U-shaped relationship with bank performance. Several robustness tests largely confirm the findings, with important implications for policy-makers. The findings are crucial to policy-makers and bankers who are interested in tailoring good corporate governance principles for the Lebanese banking sector.
Removal of humic acid from aqueous solution using polyacrylamide/chitosan semi-IPN hydrogel
Authors: Liu Zejun , Zhou Shaoqi
Published: February 2018

In this study, we provide the first documented removal of humic acid (HA) from aqueous solution using polyacrylamide/chitosan (PAAm/CS) semi-IPN hydrogel. The prepared semi-IPN hydrogel was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The factors effecting HA adsorption performance were individually tested, including initial pH, ionic strength, contact time, initial HA concentration, and temperature. The results indicated that semi-IPN hydrogel was successfully fabricated and can be applied in a wide pH range, from 3 to 9. Low ionic strength effectively enhanced the adsorption capacity. As the ionic strength increased, this enhancement was less obvious but still positive. The adsorption kinetics were fitted to a pseudo-first-order kinetic model, and the adsorption isotherm was described using the Sips isotherm model. The HA adsorption capacity increased with increasing temperature. The maximum adsorption capacity has the potential to attain 166.30 mg g−1, based on the Sips isotherm at 25 °C. Experiments demonstrated that the HA adsorption process can be primarily attributed to electrostatic interactions, and hydrogen bonding was also involved. Facile synthesis and good adsorptive performance indicate that semi-IPN hydrogel can be used for removing HA from water.
Modified powder activated carbon-catalyzed ozonation of humic acid: influences of chemical and textural properties
Authors: Feng Jing , Yang Yang , Chen Honglin , Zhang Xiaoming
Published: February 2018

A modification method that combines thermal and oxidation treatments was used to improve catalytic activity of activated carbon (AC) which catalyzed ozonation of the aquatic contaminant humic acid (HA). As a consequence of modifying virgin AC, modified AC (ACN2O2N2) had good catalytic performance for ozonation of HA. Apparent first-order rate constants (kapp) were ACN2O2N2 (7.88 × 10−3 s−1) > virgin AC (3.28 × 10−3 s−1). This change was discussed in terms of three factors: textural property, graphitization degree, and surface chemical property. From analysis results, it was deduced that the surface chemical property (the concentration of surface groups) was the main factor that influenced catalytic activity. An increase in the concentration of hydroxyl groups on AC enhanced catalytic activity of AC in ozonation of HA. Effects of phosphate (both a ligand and a strong Lewis base) further confirmed that Lewis acid sites (hydroxyl groups) were the active centers for free radical reaction in catalytic ozonation of AC.
Microalgae cultivation for wastewater treatment and biogas production at Moscow wastewater treatment plant
Authors: Shchegolkova N. , Shurshin K. , Pogosyan S. , Voronova E. , Matorin D. , Karyakin D.
Published: February 2018

The process of cultivation of microalgae on purified and clarified wastewater of Kuryanovo wastewater treatment plants (KWWTP) was studied. The studies were conducted on monoculture (Scenedesmus quadricauda and Chlorella sorokiniana) and on polyculture, the composition of which was formed from microalgae present in the wastewater. The authors created and investigated the columnar photobioreactor (PBR), which acted as a pilot project on the purified and clarified water of KWWTP and allowed the removal of total nitrogen and phosphorus phosphates with an efficiency of up to 90%. The formation of a stable biocenosis from 22 species of algae (with 3–4 dominant species) and 31 species of zooplankton organisms belonging to six systematic subdivisions was recorded. The optimal retention time of the microalgae polyculture for the most effective wastewater treatment has been determined. The conducted studies have shown that the depth of decomposition of ashless matter and the ultimate biogas potential of untreated microalgae biomass is 15% lower than the corresponding values obtained with digestion of activated sludge, which necessitates studies in the field of pretreatment of algal biomass. The paper shows: connections between chlorophyll-a content, algal biomass and fluorescence index F0 and between biomass increment and Fv/Fm value.
Sigaranın Çocuğa Etkileri Konusunda Ailelerin Farkındalıkları, Tutum ve Davranışları
Authors: Topçu Seda , Akın Elenur , Ulukol Betül , Şimşek Orhon Filiz , Başkan Sevgi
Published: February 2018

Sigara dumanına pasif maruziyetin çocuk sağlığı üzerine birçok olumsuz etkisi bulunmaktadır. Amacımız ebeveynlerin sigaranın çocuklara etkileri konusunda bilgi ve farkındalıklarını değerlendirmek, çocuklarını sigaradan korumak adına aldıkları önlemleri ve gelecek stratejilerini belirlemektir. Yöntem: Sosyal Pediatri Polikliniğine çocuklarını sağlıklı çocuk izlemine getiren 286 ebeveyn için sigaranın çocuğa etkileri ve ailelerin önlem amaçlı tutumları konusunda sorular içeren anket formu yüz yüze doldurulmuştur. Bulgular: Araştırmamızda annelerin %16,3’ü, babaların %46,3’ü halen sigara kullandıklarını belirtmiştir. Ebeveynlerin %96,9’u kafe/restoran gibi kamuya açık alanlarda sigara kullanılmayan bölümde oturmayı tercih ettiklerini belirtmelerine rağmen %51’i eve gelen misafirlerin evdesigara içmelerine izin verdiklerini ifade etmiştir. Yoksulluk sınırının altında aylık geliri olan ailelerde sigara içme sıklığı anlamlı olarak yüksek bulunmuştur (p<0,001). Çocuğunun ileride sigaraya başlamasını önlemede, sigara içmeyen grupta eğitim vererek (p=0,025) ve etrafında sigara içilmesine engel olarak sigara içilmesini önleme stratejileri sigara içen gruba göre daha etkili bulunmuştur (p<0,001). Sonuç: Ebeveynlerin çevresel sigara dumanı maruziyeti konusunda bilgileri, günlük yaşantılarına yön vermede öncelikleri ve önlem yöntemleri konusunda yaklaşımları çocukları korumakta etkili faktörlerdir. Çocukları sigara dumanından korumak için anne-babaların bilinçlendirilmesi ve buna yönelik tutum ve davranışlar geliştirmeleri önemlidir.
Sosyal Hizmet Uzmanlarının Mesleki Bağlılık Düzeylerinin Bazı Değişkenlere Göre İncelenmesi
Authors: Saruç Semra , Aslantürk Hüsnünur
Published: February 2018

Amaç: Bu araştırma, sosyal hizmet uzmanlarının mesleki bağlılıklarını çeşitli değişkenler açısından (cinsiyet, yaş, gelir durumu, medeni durum, çalışmasüresi vb.) incelemek amacıyla yapılmıştır. Yöntem: İlişkisel tarama modelinde planlanan çalışma 153 sosyal hizmet uzmanı ile gerçekleştirilmiştir.Çalışmada kişisel bilgi formu ve Meyer, Allen ve Smith (1993) tarafından geliştirilmiş olan Mesleki Bağlılık Ölçeği kullanılmıştır. Bulgular: Araştırmasonucunda; sosyal hizmet uzmanlarının gelirleri ile mesleki bağlılık ölçeğinin duygusal mesleki bağlılık ve mesleki devamlılık bağlılığı alt boyutundaanlamlı farklılık bulunmuştur (p<0,05). Geliri 3000 TL’nin altında olan sosyal hizmet uzmanlarının duygusal mesleki bağlılığı ve mesleki devamlılıkbağlılığı daha düşüktür. Bir başka deyişle sosyal hizmet uzmanlarının aylık geliri arttıkça duygusal mesleki bağlılıkları ve mesleki devamlılık bağlılığıartmaktadır. Sosyal hizmet uzmanlarının çalıştıkları kuruluş değişkenine göre mesleki devamlılık bağlılığında anlamlı bir farklılaşma bulunmuştur. Bunagöre araştırma kapsamındaki sosyal hizmet uzmanlarından Sağlık Bakanlığında çalışanların mesleki devamlılık bağlılığı diğer kuruluşlarda çalışanlara göredaha düşüktür. Sonuç: Çalışmanın sonuçlarına göre sosyal hizmet uzmanlarının mesleki bağlılıklarının gelir durumu, çalıştıkları kurum değişkenine görefarklılaştığı görülmüştür. Cinsiyet, yaş, medeni durum, eğitim durumu, çalıştıkları hizmet yılı değişkenleri ile sosyal hizmet uzmanlarının mesleki bağlılığıarasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı bir ilişki bulunmadığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.
INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE 1 : 2011
Authors: Abdullah Alias
Published: February 2018

The publications of this journal is one of the many activities undertaken by the Malaysian Institute of Planners (MIP) to propagate knowledge and information pertaining to town and country planning to its members as well as the public. This Journal also acts as a medium for MIP members and others to engage in research and writing articles that could contribute to the advancement of the theory and practice of town and country planning. Published articles in this Journal means for MIP members, is fulflling their CPD point requirement. As to the academic contributors, journal’s indexed in SCOPUS will be very meaningful as it adds extra point in terms of their involvement in research and publication.This year, MIP’s journal has moved extra mile by producing a special issue dedicated specifcally on Langkawi Geopark. Ten related titles researched and written by a group of experts from LESTARI, UKM and LADA staff had contributed in this special issue. Topics which are covered and discussed in this issue would defnitely promote better understanding on current issues relating to our frst geopark, not only in Malaysia, but South East Asia dated back about 550 million years ago as endorsed by UNESCO in 2007. The articles discussed rigorously not only on geopark concept that made up of more than mere geological structures and landscape but also about how the local communities within it can sustain and nurture this geological heritage through effective conservation efforts and promotion of ecotourism. Experiences and suggestions put forward by the authors in this Journal could be used or adopted into practice by MIP members and authorities in carrying out their professional role in maintaining our very own world heritage. Congratulation to the authors for their excellent effort and materials published in this special issue.On behalf of the council I would like to thank the editors. I would like to urge members of MIP and others to make full use of this Journal.
INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE 1 : 2017
Authors: Mohammed Osman Mariana , Abdullah Faris
Published: February 2018

Sustainable Well-Being is broadly defined as the exploration of lasting happiness. It highlights the importance of a sustainable lifestyle that is environmentally friendly and socially advantageous. It requires us to pursue well-being in a much more holistic way and within the planetary boundaries.Towards the end of the last millennium, the word ‘sustainability’ was, and still is, the most used phrase with regards to all aspects of our livelihood, and even more so in the built environment field. This was when we understood that progress and environmental conservation are symbiotic – one is supposedly benefiting the other. Wellbeing, on the other hand, carries the notion of happiness, healthy and comfortable. Wellbeing has long been a much researched areas, although mainly in the sociological and psychological domains. Of late, it has increasingly becoming an important agenda in the built environment field as well.Acknowledging the importance of built environment in the pursuit of long lasting happiness, this issue of the Planning Malaysia Journal carries the theme of ‘Sustainable Well-Being in Architecture and Environmental Sciences’. This issue focuses on the design and building of living place which are harmonious and in sync with the environment needs and conservation.The contributions to the study of environmental sciences have come from diverse fields including architecture, town planning, transportation, engineering, legal matters, community development and psychology, and housing. Despite the diversity, each of the fields cannot be viewed as separate entities since they interweave in the broad framework of sustainable well-being. A broader yet explicit understanding of sustainable well-being from diverse research contexts would lead to better decisions, especially in the built environment designs and solutions.Finally, we believe that this issue of Planning Malaysia, can become the platform for experts and researchers to discuss on how sustainable well-being in the built environment can be realized. It is also hoped that the articles in this issue would be useful references for future studies related to the built environment and sustainable well-being.
INTRODUCTION TO SPECIAL ISSUE 3 : 2017
Authors: Mokthar Ihsan Zainal
Published: February 2018

I am pleased to present to you this Planning Malaysia Journal Volume 15 Issue 3 for your reading pleasure. Since our migration to online version of the Journal, we have successfullyelevated the Journal to higher level. The Journal readership has increased, reaching wider and international audience. The Journal is also gaining recognition from local and foreign scholars. Article submissions have increased three-fold and this year alone we are publishing 5 issues of the Journal, which is unprecedented. This issue also reflects the wider acceptance of the Journal. It includes articles not only from local scholars, but also from foreign scholars. We hoped that the inclusion of articles from foreign scholars would benefits local readers with knowledge of cases and experiences related to urban planning from other countries as well.I would like to thank the Journal Editorial Board and Secretariat for their untiring efforts in the publication of the Journal and also in successfully uplifting the Journal to higher level.Thank you.
INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME 3 : 2005
Authors: Jaafar Mohamad Nazri
Published: February 2018

The publication of this journal is one of the many activities undertaken by the Malaysian Institute of Planners to disseminate knowledge and information pertaining to town and country planning to its members as well as to the public. This Journal also acts as a medium for MIP members and others to engage in research and writing articles that could contribute to the advancement of the theory and practice of town and country planning. Undertaking research and writing articles to be published in this Journal is one of the means for MIP members to fulfill their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programs requirement.Topics which are covered and discussed in this Journal would definitely promote better understanding on current issues, new ideas and concepts, and latest technology that affecting the practice and profession of town planning in this country. Experiences and suggestions put forward by the authors in this Journal could be used or adopted into practice by MIP members in carrying out their professional role. Congratulation to the authors for their excellent effort and materials published in this Journal.The publication of this journal would not be possible without the commitment and tedious works of the editorial team lead by Associate Prof. Dr Alias Abdullah. On behalf of the council I would like to thank the editors. I would like to urge members of MIP and others to make full use of this Journal.Thank you.