Characteristics of Firms Going Private in the Malaysian Stock Exchange

The study empirically investigates the financial characteristics that discriminate firms that went private and firms that remain publicly traded. Based on the results of logit and probit model, companies that reverted to the private domain are characterized as having higher cash balance, higher degree of undervaluation, higher operating profit margin, lower dividend payout rate, and lower free float compared to public counterparts. The classification accuracy rates for in-sample and holdout sample are 69.17% and 65.38% respectively.Going Private, Public-to-Private Transaction, Stock Market, Target Prediction, Firm Characteristics

The Encounter of Hybridity Through Space in Narratives: Life Stories from Taiwan’s Military Dependants’ Villages

After the defeat of the Kuomintang (KMT) by the Chinese Communist Party in the second civil war, over six hundred thousand soldiers and their dependants followed the KMT government’s retreat to Taiwan in 1949. The KMT government settled those soldiers and dependants in different counties in Taiwan in so-called “military dependants’ villages.” With the gradual elimination of these old villages, the experiences of living in their crude, crowded houses have become memories shared among older residents. The project researcher has employed in-depth interviews and narrative criticism to examine the life stories of the residents of the old villages in Pingtung City, the administrative capital of the southernmost county in Taiwan. The purpose of this project is to investigate the interrelationship of space, diasporic experiences, and hybrid identity in narratives. It is expected that the results of this project could enhance the cultural studies of the old military dependants’ villages in Taiwan. This research project is financially supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan, R.O.C. (NSC 100-2410-H-128-022-MY2). The results discussed in this project are from the first half of a two-year research plan

Comparison of the Aesthetic Pleasure Design Cultures between the East and the West

From the cultural perspective, aesthetic pleasure is influenced by the implicit and explicit ethnic characteristics. For instance, the triggers of laughter in western and eastern humors are different. The concepts of designing the aesthetic pleasure of a product may also be influenced by human lifestyles. Based on Aesthetic of Reception proposed by Hans Robert Jauss, this study attempted to use the fundamental framework of aesthetic pleasure which includes three perspectives, including creation poiesis , perception aesthesis , and purification catharsis , to examine the difference between western instrumentalism and eastern spiritualism. From the idea that creation is to produce aesthetic experience and is the representation of design, the development of the representation of design in the east and the west could be derived. Perception is the pleasant emotions created after affective reception. It is the perception of design that reflects the perceptions of pleasure in the eastern and the western world. Purification is the result of interactions with aesthetic experience, allowing us to understand the formation of taste and style. Through the fundamental framework of aesthetic pleasure, the difference between the east and the west in aesthetic pleasure can be more easily observed, and a new discourse of design can also be formed from this cultural perspective

Correlation of fluorescence and photocatalytic activity of co-doped Tio2

Co-doped TiO2 (0.5-4 mol%) photocatalysts were synthesized via sol-gel method and their physical and chemical properties were investigated. Addition of Co oxides dopants induced anatase to rutile phase transition and reduced the band gap energy of TiO2. The fluorescence result indicated that the electron-hole recombination rate was reduced with the presence of Co oxides dopant. The best photocatalyst obtained was 3Co-TiO2 which enhanced the photocatalytic activity of TiO2 by 10 folds to 26.6%. The importance of fluorescence properties of Co-doped TiO2 towards its photodegradation of Congo Red was presented

BREAST CANCER RISK AND DETECTION USING GENES, MAMMOGRAPHIC DENSITY AND MAMMOGRAMS

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Comparison of domiciliary oxygen using liquid oxygen and concentrator in northern Taiwan

Background/PurposeLong-term oxygen therapy has become standard treatment for patients with chronic respiratory insufficiency. However, patterns of long-term home oxygen therapy have not been well studied in Taiwan. Oxygen concentrator systems are commonly used in Taiwan, but liquid oxygen delivery systems are portable and may provide advantages over the concentrator system. This study compared oxygen usage between patients from a liquid oxygen group (LOG) and an oxygen concentrator group (OCG). The authors also assessed the physiologic responses of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to ambulatory oxygen use at home.MethodsThe study used a retrospective, cross-sectional, observational survey design. The LOG comprised 42 patients, and the OCG comprised 102 patients. We recruited participants in northern Taiwan from July 2009 to April 2010. The questionnaire instruments that were used to collect data consisted of three parts: demographic characteristics, devices used in respiratory care, and activity status with portable oxygen. Two-minute walking tests were performed on COPD patients in their homes.ResultsCOPD was the most common diagnosis in our study, with more than 50% of patients who received oxygen long term in both groups having received this diagnosis. The LOG used oxygen for an average of 21.7 hours per day, whereas OCG averaged 15.2 hours per day (p<0.001). In the OCG, 92.2% of patients used a concentrator alone, whereas 23.8% of the LOG used liquid oxygen alone (p<0.001). The LOG patients were involved in significantly more outdoors activities (p=0.002) and reported traveling with oxygen more often (p<0.001) than the OCG patients. For patients with the same dyspnea level of COPD severity, those using liquid oxygen had a lower increase in pulse rate after the walking test, in comparison with the concentrator users.ConclusionPatients in the LOG used oxygen for longer hours, went on more outings, and were more likely to travel with oxygen than patients in the OCG. Being ambulatory with liquid oxygen might enable patients with COPD to walk more effectively

Photodegradation of Malachite Green by Immobilization of Titanium Dioxide on Glass Plates

The effects of pH, contact time, initial dye concentration, numbers of dip coating, light sources and repetitive usage of dip-coated TiO2 were studied in batch experiments in order to investigate the photodegradation efficiency of malachite green in aqueous solution by using titanium dioxide, TiO2 immobilized on glass plates. The photodegradation of malachite green was found to be more effective at lower initial dye concentration. Kinetic studies showed good correlation coefficient for a pseudo-first order kinetic model. The removal of malachite green was dependent on the TiO2 loading where the percentage removal of malachite green was 92.15, 94.28 and 98.43 % for 5, 10 and 15 number of TiO2 dip-coating, respectively. Among the three light sources used, sunlight possessed the highest removal efficiency with 100 % of removal of dye in 6 h of irradiation. The degradation of malachite green was enhanced in basic solution compared with acidic solution due to the amphoteric property of TiO2. The decolourization efficiency was found to be decreased after each repetitive usage of dip-coated TiO2 glass plates. However, the immobilized TiO2 still displayed a good performance in the removal of malachite green.

XRCC1, but not APE1 and hOGG1 gene polymorphisms is a risk factor for pterygium.

PurposeEpidemiological evidence suggests that UV irradiation plays an important role in pterygium pathogenesis. UV irradiation can produce a wide range of DNA damage. The base excision repair (BER) pathway is considered the most important pathway involved in the repair of radiation-induced DNA damage. Based on previous studies, single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 8-oxoguanine glycosylase-1 (OGG1), X-ray repair cross-complementing-1 (XRCC1), and AP-endonuclease-1 (APE1) genes in the BER pathway have been found to affect the individual sensitivity to radiation exposure and induction of DNA damage. Therefore, we hypothesize that the genetic polymorphisms of these repair genes increase the risk of pterygium.MethodsXRCC1, APE1, and hOGG1 polymorphisms were studied using fluorescence-labeled Taq Man probes on 83 pterygial specimens and 206 normal controls.ResultsThere was a significant difference between the case and control groups in the XRCC1 genotype (p=0.038) but not in hOGG1 (p=0.383) and APE1 (p=0.898). The odds ratio of the XRCC1 A/G polymorphism was 2.592 (95% CI=1.225-5.484, p=0.013) and the G/G polymorphism was 1.212 (95% CI=0.914-1.607), compared to the A/A wild-type genotype. Moreover, individuals who carried at least one C-allele (A/G and G/G) had a 1.710 fold increased risk of developing pterygium compared to those who carried the A/A wild type genotype (OR=1.710; 95% CI: 1.015-2.882, p=0.044). The hOGG1 and APE1 polymorphisms did not have an increased odds ratio compared with the wild type.ConclusionsXRCC1 (Arg399 Glu) is correlated with pterygium and might become a potential marker for the prediction of pterygium susceptibility

Development of titanium dioxide nanoparticles/nanosolution for photocatalytic activity

Biological and chemical contaminants by man-made activities have been serious global issue. Exposure of these contaminants beyond the limits may result in serious environmental and health problem. Therefore, it is important to develop an effective solution that can be easily utilized by mankind. One of the effective ways to overcome this problem is by using titanium dioxide (TiO2). TiO2 is a well-known photocatalyst that widely used for environmental clean-up due to its ability to decompose organic pollutant and kill bacteria. Although it is proven TiO2 has an advantage to solve this concern, its usefulness unfortunately is limited only under UV light irradiation. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the potential of TiO2 that can be activated under visible light by the incorporation of metal ions (Fe, Ag, Zr and Ag-Zr). In this study, sol-gel method was employed for the synthesis of metal ions incorporated TiO2. XRD analysis revealed that all samples content biphasic anatase-brookite TiO2 of size 3 nm to 5 nm. It was found that the incorporation of these metal ions did not change the morphology of TiO2 but the crystallinity and optical properties were affected. The crystallinity of anatase in the biphasic TiO2 was found to be decreased and favored brookite formation. PL analysis showed metal ions incorporation suppressed the recombination of electron-hole pairs while the band gap energy of TiO2 (3.2 eV) was decreased by the incorporation of Fe (2.46 eV) and Ag (2.86 eV). Among this incorporation, Ag-Zr incorporated TiO2 showed highest performance for methyl orange degradation (93%) under fluorescent xxv light irradiation for 10 h. This follows by Zr-TiO2 (82%), Fe-TiO2 (75%) and Ag�TiO2 (43%). Meanwhile, the highest antibacterial performance was exhibited by Ag�TiO2. TEM images showed that E.coli bacterium was killed within 12 h after treated with Ag-TiO2. The results obtained from the fieldwork study established that Ag-Zr incorporation have excellent performances for VOC removal and antibacterial test. The VOC content after treated with Ag-Zr-TiO2 fulfilled the Industry Code of Practice on Indoor Air Quality 2010 which is lower than 3 ppm. In addition, the percentage of microbes also found to be decrease around 45 % within 5 days of monitoring

Identification of microRNA precursors in Bruguiera spp.

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are approximately 22 nt single stranded functional RNAs derived from long stem-loop precursors transcribed by RNA polymerase II. They regulate gene expression through post-transcriptional gene silencing and are important for the regulation of growth, development and stress responses in plants. Mature nucleotide sequences of many miRNA families are highly conserved across the plant kingdom and can be used to identify and annotate homologs and potential miRNA targets. In this study, mature miRNA sequences retrieved from the miRNA registry (miRBase) were used to identify precursor sequences of miRNA orthologs and their potential targets among Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs) of the mangrove species Bruguiera cylindrica (L.) Blume, B. gymnorhiza (L.) Lam. and B. sexangula (Lour.) Poir. Candidate miRNA precursors, which potentially belong to the miR156/7, miR396 and miR529 families, had high sequence identity between Bruguiera cylindrica and Bruguiera gymnorhiza, and expression of RNA was confirmed in both species. A number of candidate targets for miR396 and miR529 were also identified among EST from B. gymnorhiza