China has blossomed from going from one of the poorest economies to a financial leader. The private consumption in China has grown 8,3% annually the last two decades. The dining out expenditures have grown 10,2%, and is an exciting market for foreign entrepreneurs to establish themselves in. Previous research has suggested that foreign Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises should join forces with a Chinese counterpart in order to get access to market experience and network contacts, in order to succeed in the Chinese market (Wilson and Brennan, 2003). Deng (2001) claims that the most popular investment vehicle Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprise increases in popularity among all company sizes.   This dissertation aims to investigate to which extent MSME foreign entrepreneurs use networking and guanxi, depending on ownership registration. A qualitative research method was used with an abductive approach and an interpretivist research philosophy to explore this phenomenon. The results of this thesis show that foreign entrepreneurs can start up successfully both as WFOEs and JVs. WFOEs and JVs share many of the same contacts, but networking activities and usage of guanxi has some influencing factors. The Registration Status of company influence strategic networking decisions, the perception and expectation of the nature and benefits of guanxi and perceived necessity of gift giving also affected the networking activities.  JV owners perceive guanxi contacts to be necessary to succeed in China and finds cultivation and utilization of it to be beneficial.  Entrepreneurs who establish Wholly Foreign Owned Enterprises both use and have a more “Western” approach to social networking, and almost exclusively don’t have guanxi contacts. The Investment Vehicle Network Scheme shows that JVs have more complex networks than WFOE, since they receive Chinese guanxi and networking contacts through their partners. The Guanxi Network Ownership Model shows the network intensity during the startup phases of the companies. The research also indicates that guanxi smoothens out the start-up process for the entrepreneurs who enter JVs.

Thesis (M. Law. (Development and Management)) --University of Limpopo, 2016 / One of the fundamental objectives of the new Companies Act 71 of 2008 is to provide for efficient rescue of financially distressed companies. It is almost four years since the Act introduced the regime of business rescue, therefor details about its success or lack thereof must be examined so as to consider its viability in South Africa. With a very higher degree of certainty, the regime has so far shown some inherent shortcomings embodied in its application. Business rescue has had implications on corporate governance and taxation in South Africa. Against this new corporate scene, mini-dissertation analyses the most controversial aspects and the most telling implications of the business rescue regime since its inception in South African company law. Furthermore, this minidissertation analyses the call for further modification of the business rescue regime. Most importantly it spells out several recommendations which if considered pragmatically will constructively contribute to the viability of the business rescue regime in South Africa. It finds that the business rescue regime in South Africa is almost likely to be viable. KEY WORDS: business rescue, financially distressed and affected persons.

El diagnóstico final de la mayoría de tipos de cáncer lo realiza un médico experto en anatomía patológica que examina muestras tisulares o celulares sospechosas extraídas del paciente. Actualmente, esta evaluación depende en gran medida de la experiencia del médico y se lleva a cabo de forma cualitativa mediante técnicas de imagen tradicionales como la microscopía óptica. Esta tarea tediosa está sujeta a altos grados de subjetividad y da lugar a niveles de discordancia inadecuados entre diferentes patólogos, especialmente en las primeras etapas de desarrollo del cáncer. La espectroscopía infrarroja por Transformada de Fourier (siglas FTIR en inglés) es una tecnología ampliamente utilizada en la industria que recientemente ha demostrado una capacidad creciente para mejorar el diagnóstico de diferentes tipos de cáncer. Esta técnica aprovecha las propiedades del infrarrojo medio para excitar los modos vibratorios de los enlaces químicos que forman las muestras biológicas. La principal señal generada consiste en un espectro de absorción que informa sobre la composición química de la muestra iluminada. Los microespectrómetros FTIR modernos, compuestos por complejos componentes ópticos y detectores matriciales de alta sensibilidad, permiten capturar en un laboratorio de investigación común imágenes hiperespectrales de alta calidad que aúnan información química y espacial. Las imágenes FTIR son estructuras de datos ricas en información que se pueden analizar individualmente o junto con otras modalidades de imagen para realizar diagnósticos patológicos objetivos. Por lo tanto, esta técnica de imagen emergente alberga un alto potencial para mejorar la detección y la graduación del riesgo del paciente en el cribado y vigilancia de cáncer. Esta tesis estudia e implementa diferentes metodologías y algoritmos de los campos interrelacionados de procesamiento de imagen, visión por ordenador, aprendizaje automático, reconocimiento de patrones, análisis multivariante y quimiometría para el procesamiento y análisis de imágenes hiperespectrales FTIR. Estas imágenes se capturaron con un moderno microscopio FTIR de laboratorio a partir de muestras de tejidos y células afectadas por cáncer colorrectal y de piel, las cuales se prepararon siguiendo protocolos alineados con la práctica clínica actual. Los conceptos más relevantes de la espectroscopía FTIR se investigan profundamente, ya que deben ser comprendidos y tenidos en cuenta para llevar a cabo una correcta interpretación y tratamiento de sus señales especiales. En particular, se revisan y analizan diferentes factores fisicoquímicos que influyen en las mediciones espectroscópicas en el caso particular de muestras biológicas y pueden afectar críticamente su análisis posterior. Todos estos conceptos y estudios preliminares entran en juego en dos aplicaciones principales. La primera aplicación aborda el problema del registro o alineación de imágenes hiperespectrales FTIR con imágenes en color adquiridas con microscopios tradicionales. El objetivo es fusionar la información espacial de distintas muestras de tejido medidas con esas dos modalidades de imagen y centrar la discriminación en las regiones seleccionadas por los patólogos, las cuales se consideran más relevantes para el diagnóstico de cáncer colorrectal. En la segunda aplicación, la espectroscopía FTIR se lleva a sus límites de detección para el estudio de las entidades biomédicas más pequeñas. El objetivo es evaluar las capacidades de las señales FTIR para discriminar de manera fiable diferentes tipos de células de piel que contienen fenotipos malignos. Los estudios desarrollados contribuyen a la mejora de métodos de decisión objetivos que ayuden al patólogo en el diagnóstico final del cáncer. Además, revelan las limitaciones de los protocolos actuales y los problemas intrínsecos de la tecnología FTIR moderna, que deberían abordarse para permit / The final diagnosis of most types of cancers is performed by an expert clinician in anatomical pathology who examines suspicious tissue or cell samples extracted from the patient. Currently, this assessment largely relies on the experience of the clinician and is accomplished in a qualitative manner by means of traditional imaging techniques, such as optical microscopy. This tedious task is subject to high degrees of subjectivity and gives rise to suboptimal levels of discordance between different pathologists, especially in early stages of cancer development. Fourier Transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is a technology widely used in industry that has recently shown an increasing capability to improve the diagnosis of different types of cancer. This technique takes advantage of the ability of mid-infrared light to excite the vibrational modes of the chemical bonds that form the biological samples. The main generated signal consists of an absorption spectrum that informs of the chemical composition of the illuminated specimen. Modern FTIR microspectrometers, composed of complex optical components and high-sensitive array detectors, allow the acquisition of high-quality hyperspectral images with spatially-resolved chemical information in a common research laboratory. FTIR images are information-rich data structures that can be analysed alone or together with other imaging modalities to provide objective pathological diagnoses. Hence, this emerging imaging technique presents a high potential to improve the detection and risk stratification in cancer screening and surveillance. This thesis studies and implements different methodologies and algorithms from the related fields of image processing, computer vision, machine learning, pattern recognition, multivariate analysis and chemometrics for the processing and analysis of FTIR hyperspectral images. Those images were acquired with a modern benchtop FTIR microspectrometer from tissue and cell samples affected by colorectal and skin cancer, which were prepared by following protocols close to the current clinical practise. The most relevant concepts of FTIR spectroscopy are thoroughly investigated, which ought to be understood and considered to perform a correct interpretation and treatment of its special signals. In particular, different physicochemical factors are reviewed and analysed, which influence the spectroscopic measurements for the particular case of biological samples and can critically affect their later analysis. All these knowledge and preliminary studies come into play in two main applications. The first application tackles the problem of registration or alignment of FTIR hyperspectral images with colour images acquired with traditional microscopes. The aim is to fuse the spatial information of distinct tissue samples measured by those two imaging modalities and focus the discrimination on regions selected by the pathologists, which are meant to be the most relevant areas for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer. In the second application, FTIR spectroscopy is pushed to their limits of detection for the study of the smallest biomedical entities. The aim is to assess the capabilities of FTIR signals to reliably discriminate different types of skin cells containing malignant phenotypes. The developed studies contribute to the improvement of objective decision methods to support the pathologist in the final diagnosis of cancer. In addition, they reveal the limitations of current protocols and intrinsic problems of modern FTIR technology, which should be tackled in order to enable its transference to anatomical pathology laboratories in the future. / El diagnòstic final de la majoria de tipus de càncer ho realitza un metge expert en anatomia patològica que examina mostres tissulars o cel¿lulars sospitoses extretes del pacient. Actualment, aquesta avaluació depèn en gran part de l'experiència del metge i es porta a terme de forma qualitativa mitjançant tècniques d'imatge tradicionals com la microscòpia òptica. Aquesta tasca tediosa està subjecta a alts graus de subjectivitat i dóna lloc a nivells de discordança inadequats entre diferents patòlegs, especialment en les primeres etapes de desenvolupament del càncer. L'espectroscòpia infraroja per Transformada de Fourier (sigles FTIR en anglès) és una tecnologia àmpliament utilitzada en la indústria que recentment ha demostrat una capacitat creixent per millorar el diagnòstic de diferents tipus de càncer. Aquesta tècnica aprofita les propietats de l'infraroig mitjà per excitar els modes vibratoris dels enllaços químics que formen les mostres biològiques. El principal senyal generat consisteix en un espectre d'absorció que informa sobre la composició química de la mostra il¿luminada. Els microespectrómetres FTIR moderns, compostos per complexos components òptics i detectors matricials d'alta sensibilitat, permeten capturar en un laboratori d'investigació comú imatges hiperespectrals d'alta qualitat que uneixen informació química i espacial. Les imatges FTIR són estructures de dades riques en informació que es poden analitzar individualment o juntament amb altres modalitats d'imatge per a realitzar diagnòstics patològics objectius. Per tant, aquesta tècnica d'imatge emergent té un alt potencial per a millorar la detecció i la graduació del risc del pacient en el cribratge i vigilància de càncer. Aquesta tesi estudia i implementa diferents metodologies i algoritmes dels camps interrelacionats de processament d'imatge, visió per ordinador, aprenentatge automàtic, reconeixement de patrons, anàlisi multivariant i quimiometria per al processament i anàlisi d'imatges hiperespectrals FTIR. Aquestes imatges es van capturar amb un modern microscopi FTIR de laboratori a partir de mostres de teixits i cèl¿lules afectades per càncer colorectal i de pell, les quals es van preparar seguint protocols alineats amb la pràctica clínica actual. Els conceptes més rellevants de l'espectroscòpia FTIR s'investiguen profundament, ja que han de ser compresos i tinguts en compte per dur a terme una correcta interpretació i tractament dels seus senyals especials. En particular, es revisen i analitzen diferents factors fisicoquímics que influeixen en els mesuraments espectroscòpiques en el cas particular de mostres biològiques i poden afectar críticament la seua anàlisi posterior. Tots aquests conceptes i estudis preliminars entren en joc en dues aplicacions principals. La primera aplicació aborda el problema del registre o alineació d'imatges hiperespectrals FTIR amb imatges en color adquirides amb microscopis tradicionals. L'objectiu és fusionar la informació espacial de diferents mostres de teixit mesurades amb aquestes dues modalitats d'imatge i centrar la discriminació en les regions seleccionades pels patòlegs, les quals es consideren més rellevants per al diagnòstic de càncer colorectal. En la segona aplicació, l'espectroscòpia FTIR es porta als seus límits de detecció per a l'estudi de les entitats biomèdiques més xicotetes. L'objectiu és avaluar les capacitats dels senyals FTIR per discriminar de manera fiable diferents tipus de cèl¿lules de pell que contenen fenotips malignes. Els estudis desenvolupats contribueixen a la millora de mètodes de decisió objectius que ajuden el patòleg en el diagnòstic final del càncer. A més, revelen les limitacions dels protocols actuals i els problemes intrínsecs de la tecnologia FTIR moderna, que haurien d'abordar per permetre la seva transferència als laboratoris d'anatomia patològica en el futur. / Peñaranda Gómez, FJ. (2018). Application of artificial vision algorithms to images of microscopy and spectroscopy for the improvement of cancer diagnosis [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/99748 / TESIS

Visual object tracking is a classical and very popular problem in computer vision with a plethora of applications such as vehicle navigation, human computer interface, human motion analysis, surveillance, auto-control systems and many more. Given the initial state of a target in the first frame, the goal of tracking is to predict states of the target over time where the states describe a bounding box covering the target. Despite numerous object tracking methods that have been proposed in recent years [1-4], most of these trackers suffer a degradation in performance mainly because of several challenges that include illumination changes, motion blur, complex motion, out of plane rotation, and partial or full occlusion, while occlusion is usually the most contributing factor in degrading the majority of trackers, if not all of them. This thesis is devoted to the advancement of generic object trackers tackling different challenges through different proposed methods. The work presented propose four new state-of-the-art trackers. One of which is 3D based tracker in a particle filter framework where both synchronization and registration of RGB and depth streams are adjusted automatically, and three works in correlation filters that achieve state-of-the-art performance in terms of accuracy while maintaining reasonable speeds.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第22642号 / 医博第4625号 / 新制||医||1044(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 武田 俊一, 教授 増永 慎一郎, 教授 鈴木 実 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第18460号 / 医博第3915号 / 新制||医||1005(附属図書館) / 31338 / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 伊達 洋至, 教授 平岡 眞寛, 教授 福山 秀直 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

High Voltage (HV) cables are designed to transmit electrical power from the source to the placewhere it is consumed. The global trend towards renewable energy sources e.g. wind farms, hy-droelectric and solar panels have led to an increase in the use of HV cables, as these sources aresituated in remote locations far from the areas where they are consumed. Therefore. there is aneed for developing efficient power transmission cables.Mass-impregnated (MI) cable is a type of HV cable which contains an electrical insulation layerof oil or mass impregnated cellulose paper. Due to its excellent dielectric properties, MI cableshas been established as a solution for high voltage electrical transmission system, which has beenused for several decades.The main area of interest in this thesis is the paper insulation in the MI cable. It is importantto ensure that the paper insulation structure is robust enough to avoid any formation of damageand/or defects due to excessive deformations during cable production, handling and installation,which might affect the overall electrical performance of the cable. During handling, the drylapped cable needs to be bent and unbent several times and there is a risk that the insulationwill develop voids due to structural defects, thereby reducing the dielectric capacity of the cable.An example of typical structural defects in MI cables is, so-called, diamond folds, i.e. a collec-tive buckling of several paper strips due to axial compressive load resembling a diamond shapedpattern.The goal of this thesis work is to contribute to the knowledge of the mechanism of diamond foldsin MI cable; the onset of diamond fold and post-buckling responses. The contributions from thecable design or production parameters are also studied. The analyses will be conducted usingnumerical simulation techniques and will be compared to results from characterization tests al-ready conducted in mechanics lab at NKT Technology consulting.The results of this thesis has given an insight about the effect of insulation design parameterssuch as registration, butt-gaps, coefficient of friction and number of layers, on the diamond foldbuckling behavior in an MI cable insulation. It is recommended that these parameters have tobe carefully controlled so as to avoid formation of diamond fold buckling in the insulation.

Minimally invasive spine surgery (MISS) has proven to be advantageous over traditional open surgery as it minimizes the likelihood of tissue damage and infections. During MISS, surgeons create small incisions to allow access to the surgery site, however, opting for smaller incisions decreases the surgeon’s field of vision. To compensate, surgeons rely on preoperative and intraoperative ionizing imaging technologies for guidance. Conventional localization of the spine, registration of digital images to the patient during surgery, depends heavily on the surgeon’s anatomical knowledge and their experience. Preoperative images are typically created using 3D technology while intraoperative images use 2D technology. While the integration of preoperative 3D images and intraoperative 2D images can provide valuable assistance, patient’s preoperative and intraoperative positions do not coincide leading to additional use of ionizing imaging. The objective of this research was to propose a workflow that assists with image registration for MISS. The main component of the workflow was the creation of a script that automatically generates patient-specific digital guides, which will then be manufactured, to align the patient’s intraoperative and preoperative body position. By aligning the patient’s positions, the 3D printed surgical guide serves as a shared feature between the preoperative digital image and the actual patient. This allows for the intraoperative image to be registered to the preoperative image more accurately. Additionally, the guide acts as an attachment site for any additional instrument guides/supports. The surgical guide generating script utilizes the skin contour of patient’s torso region, extracted from medical images, to automatically produce the guide’s horizontal and vertical components. Adjustments are made to the components using CAD software before proceeding to manufacturing, via 3D printing, and assembly of the guide. To validate the workflow, more specifically the script’s ability to automatically generate surgical guides that fit over the patient’s back, a guide was created for a mannequin. The maximum gap between the mannequin and the horizontal components was 0.8 cm and 1.5 cm for the vertical component.

Image registration is the transformation of different sets of images into one coordinate system in order to align and overlay multiple images. Image registration is used in many fields such as medical imaging, remote sensing, and computer vision. It is very important in medical research, where multiple images are acquired from different sensors at various points in time. This allows doctors to monitor the effects of treatments on patients in a certain region of interest over time. In this thesis, artificial neural networks with curvelet keypoints are used to estimate the parameters of registration. Simulations show that the curvelet keypoints provide more accurate results than using the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) coefficients and Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) keypoints on rotation and scale parameter estimation.

This diploma thesis deals with the processing of point clouds captured by the Kinect sensor from single position. As part of this thesis an application was designed, which is able to register and reconstruct surface using selected methods. The registration of overlapping frames is based on computation of key points and their FPFH histograms from which the estimation of correspondence is computed. This estimation is then refined and redundant point filtering is performed. Surface is reconstructed from the registered and modified point cloud using Greedy Projection Triangulation. All computations are performed offline. The output of this application is textured polygonial model and an image for texture creation. With assumption of correctly set parameters the results are in a good quality for creation of virtual tours and visualization.