Static and Dynamic Pupillary Changes Reflect Autonomic Effects of Acute Sleep Deprivation in Healthy Adults

Aim To assess the pupillary activity and sympathetic skin responses of acute sleep-deprived participants (= 4 h) by comparing these values with non-sleep-deprived controls (>7 h). Methods This study included 39 participants, comprising 23 from the sleep deprivation group and 16 from the healthy control group. Self-reported sleep duration, the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS), and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were used to evaluate the state of sleepiness. Static and dynamic pupillometry measurements using the Sirius topography device, the amplitude of accommodation using Tonoref III, and sympathetic skin responses quantified via EMG were examined. Results The mean scotopic and mesopic pupil diameters were higher in acute sleep-deprived participants compared to controls (6.33 +/- 0.59 vs 6.05 +/- 0.51, P = 0.030 for scotopic luminance; 5.28 +/- 0.69 vs 5.00 +/- 0.46, P = 0.047 for mesopic luminance, respectively). In dynamic pupillometry, the speed of pupil dilation in the sleep deprivation group was higher than in the control group (0.22 +/- 0.03 vs 0.20 +/- 0.03, P = 0.004). The photopic pupil diameter, accommodation amplitude, and sympathetic skin responses were similar between the groups (P > 0.05). While sleep duration was inversely correlated with pupil diameters under all luminances, the ESS score was positively correlated with mesopic and photopic pupil diameters (P 0.05 for each). Conclusions Acute sleep deprivation alters both static and dynamic pupil responses, reflecting autonomic changes, whereas sympathetic skin responses remained unaffected. Even a single day of partial sleep deprivation is capable of impairing pupillary responses

Farklı Mekanik Özelliklere Sahip Kafes Yapıların Homojenizasyon Yöntemi ile Eşdeğer Katı Modellemesi

Kafes hücreler hafif ve düşük ağırlıklı olmalarının yanı sıra yüksek mukavemet ve enerji emme özelliklerine sahip, farklı mekanik davranış özelliği gösterebilen birbirine bağlı çubuk elemanlarına sahip özel yapılardır. Karmaşık geometrilerinden dolayı kafes yapılarla oluşturulan tasarımların, sonlu eleman analizleri süre ve işlemci gücü göz önünde bulundurulduğunda zahmetli ve pahalı olmaktadır. Bu sebeple homojenizasyon yöntemleri ile kafes hücrelerin efektif özellikleri belirlenerek analizler için gerekli maliyet azaltılabilmektedir. Ayrıca, her bir kafes hücre kübik simetriye sahip olsa da her yönde aynı mekanik davranışa sahip olmayacağından izotropik özellik göstermemektedir. Bu çalışma kapsamında, biri izotropik olmayan bir diğeri ise izotropik efektif özelliklere sahip iki adet kafes hücre türünün, eşdeğer katı modellerinin izotropik özelliklerle oluşturulduğunda sonlu elemanlar analizleri sonuçlarında meydana gelen farkı inceleyen bir çalışma gerçekleştirilmiştir. Kullanılan kafes birim hücreler izotropik olmayan özelliklere sahip Hacim Merkezli Kübik (HMK) ve izotropik özelliklere sahip Yüzey ve Basit Merkezli Kübik (YBMK) hücrelerdir. Bu çalışmada, kafes birim hücre yapıların mekanik özelliklerini tanımlamak için ele alınan eşdeğer mekanik özellikler sırasıyla eşdeğer elastisite modülü, eşdeğer kesme modülü ve eşdeğer Poisson oranıdır. HMK ve YBMK kafes hücrelerin bu efektif özellikleri, farklı çubuk çapları ve hücre uzunluklarında modellemeler sonucu homojenizasyon yöntemi ile belirlenerek, efektif özelliklerin çubuk çapının hücre uzunluğuna oranı arasındaki ilişki modellenmiştir. Bu ilişki modellemelerinde regresyon ve yapay sinir ağı modelleri kullanılarak, iki farklı sayısal tahmin yönteminin tahmin performansları incelenmiştir. Sayısal tahmin yöntemlerinin sonuçları, sonlu elemanlar analizleri sonuçları ile karşılaştırılarak doğrulanmıştır. Ayrıca, sayısal tahmin yöntemlerinden tahmin edilen efektif özellik değerleri kullanılarak bir basma testi numunesinin eşdeğer katı modeli oluşturulmuş ve bu modelin sonlu elemanlar analizi sonuçlarının detaylı kafes yapı modeli analiz sonuçları ile tutarlılığı gösterilmiştir. Bu çalışmanın sonucunda, izotropik olmayan HMK hücre için izotropik efektif özelliklerle oluşturulan eş değer katı modelinin doğru sonuçlar vermediği, izotropik olan YBMK hücre için ise izotropik efektif özelliklerle oluşturulan katı modelinin doğru sonuçlar verdiği ve regresyon yöntemi ile eşdeğer mekanik özelliklerin farklı çap ve uzunluktaki kafes hücreler için yüksek doğrulukta eşdeğer mekanik özelliklerin tahmin edilebileceği gösterilmiştir.Lattice cells are unique structures with interconnected strut elements that exhibit different mechanical behaviors, possessing high strength and energy absorption properties while being light and low in weight. Due to their complex geometries, finite element analysis of lattice designs is expensive in terms of time and processing power. Therefore, by homogenization methods, the effective properties of the lattice cells can be determined and the cost required for the analysis can be reduced. Even if each lattice cell has cubic symmetry, it does not have the same mechanical behavior in all directions, which means that it is not isotropic. In this study, a comparison was made between the results of finite element analysis when the equivalent solid models are created using isotropic effective properties for two types of lattice cells, one with non-isotropic and the other with isotropic effective properties. These lattice unit cells are Body Centered Cubic (BCC) with non-isotropic properties and Face- and Simple-Centered Cubic (FSCC) cells with isotropic properties. The equivalent mechanical properties considered to define the mechanical properties of lattice unit cells are the equivalent elasticity modulus, equivalent shear modulus and equivalent Poisson's ratio. The effective properties of BCC and FSCC lattice cells were determined using the homogenization method based on models with different strut diameters and cell lengths, and the relationship between the effective properties and the ratio of the strut diameter to cell length was modeled. In these relationship modeling processes, regression and artificial neural networks were used and the prediction performances of these two methods were examined. The results of these methods were verified by comparing them with the results of finite element analyses. In addition, an equivalent solid model of a compression test specimen was created using the effective property values predicted by the numerical prediction methods, and the consistency of the finite element analysis results of this model with the analysis results of the detailed lattice structure model was demonstrated. As a result of this study, it was shown that the equivalent solid model created with isotropic effective properties for the non-isotropic BCC cell did not yield accurate results, while the solid model created with isotropic effective properties for the isotropic FSCC cell gave accurate results and that equivalent mechanical properties could be predicted with high accuracy for lattice cells with different diameters and lengths using the regression method

NATO’nun Yük Paylaşımında Hegemon Politikaları ve Dış Tehdidin Rolü: Ukrayna Savaşı Örneği

Devletlerin yer aldığı diğer uluslararası kuruluşların birçoğuna benzer biçimde, NATO'ya üye olmanın da bazı faydaları ve maliyetleri bulunmaktadır. Bu üyeliğin sağladığı faydalar genellikle eşit biçimde bölüşülürken maliyetler ise daima aynı oranda üstlenilmemekte ve bu durum yük paylaşımı sorununa yol açmaktadır. Bu tez, söz konusu yük paylaşımını savunma harcamaları üzerinden ele almakta ve bunların farklılaşmasının altında yatan nedenleri araştırmaktadır. Tezde vaka çalışması ve süreç takibi yöntemlerinden faydalanılarak yaklaşık on yıldır devam eden Ukrayna Savaşı sürecine odaklanılmıştır. Hegemonik istikrar ve dış tehdit teorilerine dayanarak saldırgan niyetler (Rusya), hegemonun (ABD) stratejisi ve hegemonun boyutu olmak üzere üç bağımsız değişkenin yük paylaşımına etkisi analiz edilmiştir. Yapılan analiz sonucunda; öncelikle bu iki teorinin birlikte kullanılmasının muhtemel faydaları ortaya konmuştur. Buna ek olarak yük paylaşımında; Obama döneminde hegemon politikaları ve dış tehdidin birbirini dengeleyerek birlikte etkili olduğu, öte yandan Trump döneminde hegemon baskılarının ve Biden döneminde ise artan Rus saldırganlığının temel belirleyici olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Dahası, Biden döneminde ABD dışındaki NATO üyelerinin savunma harcamalarında yaşanan artışın diğer dönemlerin ötesine ulaşması, dış tehdidin yük paylaşımında hegemon baskılarından daha etkili olduğunun göstergesi olmuştur.Similar to many other international organizations in which states are a part of, being a member of NATO also has some benefits and costs. While the benefits of this membership are generally shared equally, the costs are not always borne at the same rate, which leads to the problem of burden sharing. This thesis examines this burden sharing through defense expenditures and investigates the underlying reasons for their differences. The thesis focuses on the Ukraine - Russia War process, which has been going on for about ten years, by using case study and process tracing methods. Based on the hegemonic stability and external threat theories, the effects of three independent variables, namely aggressive intentions (Russia), the strategy of the hegemon (USA) and the size of the hegemon, on burden sharing were tested. As a result of the analysis, first of all, the possible benefits of using these two theories together were revealed. In addition, it was concluded that in burden sharing; hegemonic policies and external threats were effective together by balancing each other during the Obama period, while hegemonic pressures during the Trump period and increasing Russian aggression during the Biden period were the main determinants. Moreover, the increase in defense spending of NATO members (excluding the US) during the Biden administiration, which exceeded previous periods, has been an indication that external threats are more effective than hegemonic pressures in burden sharing

Searches for Direct Slepton Production in the Compressed-Mass Corridor in S = 13 TeV Pp Collisions with the ATLASDetector

This paper presents searches for the direct pair production of charged light-flavour sleptons, each decaying into a stable neutralino and an associated Standard Model lepton. The analyses focus on the challenging “corridor” region, where the mass difference, ∆m, between the slepton (e~ or μ~) and the lightest neutralino (χ~10) is less or similar to the mass of the W boson, m(W), with the aim to close a persistent gap in sensitivity to models with ∆m ≲ m(W). Events are required to contain a high-energy jet, significant missing transverse momentum, and two same-flavour opposite-sign leptons (e or μ). The analysis uses pp collision data at s = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. Several kinematic selections are applied, including a set of boosted decision trees. These are each optimised for different ∆m to provide expected sensitivity for the first time across the full ∆m corridor. The results are generally consistent with the Standard Model, with the most significant deviations observed with a local significance of 2.0 σ in the selectron search, and 2.4 σ in the smuon search. While these deviations weaken the observed exclusion reach in some parts of the signal parameter space, the previously present sensitivity gap to this corridor is largely reduced. Constraints at the 95% confidence level are set on simplified models of selectron and smuon pair production, where selectrons (smuons) with masses up to 300 (350) GeV can be excluded for ∆m between 2 GeV and 100 GeV. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved

Brainit: A Generic IT Core Mechanism for Continuous Growth-Flow in Dynamic Chaotic Context

American Council on Science and EducationBrain CAPEX (Capital Expenses) is for free to the human being but the OPEX (Operational Expenses) is not. Since, the fluctuations on critical nutrition for brain makes it complicated to grow via optimal path as continues progress due to the chaotic OPEX changes. Fortunately, intelligent systems are able to adapt the change dynamically up to varying chaotic context, by keeping trustworthiness of the whole system via available distributed resources and algorithms. However, increasing number of nodes in the system inflates complexity of swarm behavior due to computation and memory limitations. Drastic progress saved in the emerging edge devices, can enable to produce innovative trusted AI/ML algorithms at run-time, which can help to make massive analytics at the edge nodes in (near) real time. In spite of this, keeping the system resilient require real-time updates in different system layers. As another critical milestone, increased scalability and faster in memory processing speed can be accomplished via big data technologies and ledger base chained structures in some manner. In order to keep high performance of the total system, mission/safety/operation critical applications require to be verified by critical check-points. Thereby, end-to-end trust mechanism and swarm controller methods can improve trusted scalability of the intelligent systems analytical functions and resources. So that, the dynamic holistic views can ensure trustworthiness in chaotic context with the brainIT generic IT core mechanism for continuous growth in massive-chaos, which ensures to keep local/global legal constraints-based risk minimization via 5G connected hybrid-cloud systems within the observed socio-dynamic parameters with minimized optimal OPEX costs. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved

Designing for Well-Being in Pediatric Patients Scheduled for Surgery

Objectives: Children scheduled for surgery and anesthesia often experience fear and anxiety before the procedure, as well as pain afterward. While medical treatments are essential for managing these challenges, design strategies that positively influence environmental and psychological factors can significantly improve children's experiences and their overall subjective well-being. This narrative literature review examines “design for well-being” strategies that support the subjective well-being of children undergoing surgical procedures. Background: According to the World Health Organization, health is defined not merely as the absence of disease but as a state of complete physical and mental well-being. Achieving such well-being requires not only medical care but also the optimization of environmental and psychological conditions that impact emotional states. Today, evidence-based, multidisciplinary approaches are recommended to promote well-being. In health-related design, one focus is on improving the quality of medical care, while another addresses non-medical factors that influence subjective well-being. Methods: This research employs a non-systematic literature review methodology, utilizing existing literature and evidence-based approaches to synthesize relevant strategies. Results: Enhancing subjective well-being—through evidence-based design strategies such as age-appropriate environmental modifications, sensory-friendly elements, and interactive distraction tools—alongside optimized medical practices in pediatric surgeries contributes to improved clinical outcomes and reduced perioperative stress. The review highlights “design for well-being” strategies, which effectively support the subjective well-being of children undergoing surgical procedures. Conclusions: Emphasizing “design for well-being” strategies is crucial for enhancing the overall experiences and well-being of children undergoing surgery. Future research should focus on the implementation and long-term impact of these design interventions to further validate their effectiveness and scalability. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved

Risk Factors in Addition To Short and Long-Term Outcomes With Thin Catheter Surfactant Administration Failure in Preterm Infants: a Retrospective Analysis

Kanmaz Kutman, H. Gozde/0000-0002-3177-9411; Siyah Bilgin, Betul/0000-0003-3807-4809; Kadioglu Simsek, Gulsum/0000-0003-4831-8950Objective: To evaluate the incidence of thin catheter surfactant administration (TCA) failure and compare short and long-term neonatal outcomes who failed TCA or did not. Design: Single-center retrospective cohort study. Infants between 25 and 30 weeks of gestational age with respiratory distress syndrome and receiving 200 mg/kg poractant alfa via thin catheter administration were included. TCA failure was defined as the need for early mechanical ventilation ( 72 h). Infants were divided into two groups those who failed TCA or those who did not. Results: The TCA failure rate was 24.6%. Initial oxygen requirement (0.39% vs. 0.36%) and the number of small for gestational age infants were significantly higher in the TCA failure group (15% vs. 7.9%). Infants who failed TCA had a higher pneumothorax (6.7% vs. 1.1%, p = 0.03), BPD (15% vs.5.5%, p = 0.02), late-onset sepsis (36.7% vs. 18%, p = 0.04), retinopathy of prematurity rates (11.7% vs. 3.3%, p = 0.02) and an increased duration of respiratory support. However, Bayley Scales of Infant Development II scores were comparable between groups at 18 and 26 months of corrected age. Conclusion: Infants who fail TCA are at increased risk for short-term complications despite favourable long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. Identifying infants at risk of TCA failure may help early prevention of morbidities and individualise their management

Turquaz at Genai Detection Task 1: Dr. Perplexity Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Finetuning

This paper details our methods for addressing Task 1 of the GenAI Content Detection shared tasks, which focus on distinguishing AI-generated text from human-written content. The task comprises two subtasks: Subtask A, centered on English-only datasets, and Subtask B, which extends the challenge to multilingual data. Our approach uses a fine-tuned XLM-RoBERTa model for classification, complemented by features including perplexity and TF-IDF. While perplexity is commonly regarded as a useful indicator for identifying machine-generated text, our findings suggest its limitations in multi-model and multilingual contexts. Our approach ranked 6th in Subtask A, but a submission issue left our Subtask B unranked, where it would have placed 23rd. © 2025 International Conference on Computational Linguistics