Investigation of the Load-settlement Behavior of Box-shaped Deep Foundations

The load-settlement and monolithic behaviors of a new type of deep foundation in sand named Box-Shaped Deep Foundation (BSDF) were studied, and a comparison to Conventional Piled Raft Foundations (CPRF) was made by carrying out extensive numerical analysis. Physical model tests were also conducted to validate the numerical approach presented in this study, and it turned out to be a reasonable agreement. In the scope of this paper, the results of the parametric study are presented, and design strategies for an optimized design of BSDFs are discussed

Bir orbital ensefaloselin tesadüfi tanısı-kapak miyokimisinin ötesi

A 38-years-old woman presented to our hospital for routine eye examination. She had no complaints but it was learnt that she has been followed up with the diagnosis of a left upper eyelid myokymia for more than 10 years in various ophthalmological centers. Since her eyelid movement was atypical for a myokymia, but in form of an orbital pulsation instead she has undergone an orbital magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. She was coincidentally diagnosed to have a left frontoorbital encephalocele detected by MRI. She had no trauma or chronic illness in history, so the condition was diagnosed as a ‘congenital encephalocele’ which is lately detected since due to the absence of obvious proptosis or an active clinical complaint

Experiencing Cultural Heritage Through Gamification: Mardin orphanage

This paper presents early-stage research about the role of gamification in experiencing cultural heritage strongly within the sociological context, specifically focusing on the transformation of the old orphanage located in the historical city center of Mardin. The study acknowledges the significance of the old orphanage as an architectural heritage exemplar, built of natural Mardin stone, situated within a unique historical and archaeological urban environment. However, it recognizes the challenges of preserving the building's heritage value, which necessitate surpassing the superficial restoration methods applied to adapt it into a hotel. The primary motivation of this research is to develop a method for creating a navigable and interactive virtual replica of the orphanage, centering on the processes and outcomes of transferring its heritage value. To achieve this, the paper initially outlines the documentation and analysis procedures employed, utilizing photogrammetry to capture the past and current states of the orphanage. Subsequently, participants engage with a gamified and realistic digital replica of the orphanage, involving task-based interactions and scenario-based experiences. The paper concludes by presenting preliminary results concerning participant reactions to the initial virtual model, delivered through a VR device. By raising awareness about the significance of restoring and preserving historical heritage, this study aims to positively impact the domains of tourism, education, and conservation. Furthermore, it intends to shed light on future research opportunities in the field of digital cultural heritage.International Technological Universit

Evaluation and Interpretation of Female Infertility

Infertility is a problem that affects one out of seven couples and is defined as the inability to achieve pregnancy despite unprotected intercourse for 1 year. One of the most important enemies of infertile patients is time. In order to reveal the possible causes of infertility, importance should be given to the systematic, rapid, and cost-effective evaluation, and the evaluation should be started with the least invasive examinations. In the evaluation of an infertile woman, a detailed medical history, reproductive history, family history, and physical examination are required to reveal the anatomical and physiological causes of infertility. This evaluation process is also the most suitable period for giving pre-pregnancy counseling, providing necessary counseling for preventive medicine practices, and conducting genetic research and consultations if necessary. In the evaluation of infertility, the presence of ovulation, the structure and function of the female genital system, and semen analysis in the male partner should also be evaluated. During all these evaluation processes, the psychological morbidity caused by the inability to have children should also be taken into consideration and the couples should also be supported in this respect. In this review, it was aimed to present the steps to be followed in the evaluation of an infertile woman in the light of current literature

Using Neuro-Simulated Annealing Approach to Design Manufacturing Systems

DergiPark: 231065tujesÜretim sistemlerinin tasarımında simülasyon yöntemi kullanılması kaçınılmaz yöntemlerden birisidir. Fakat elenmesi gereken pek çok çözüm alternatifi varsa simülasyon metodunun yanında kullanılması gereken başka metotlarda vardır. Bu metotlardan en çok kullanılanları başta yapay sinir ağları, sonra genetik algoritmalar, tavlama benzetimi, parçacık sürü optimizasyonu gibi arama algoritmalarıdır. Bu çalışmada benzetim çalışması sonucu elde edilen imalat sistemine ait performans ölçütleri kullanılarak Yapay Sinir Ağı (YSA) eğitilmiştir. Yani YSA ya istenilen performans ölçüleri girildiğinde, YSA her bir makine merkezindeki olması gereken makine sayısını vermektedir. Bunun yanında imalat sistemlerinin performansını etkileyen en önemli faktör sistemde kullanılan öncelik kurallarıdır. Bu sebeple simülasyon işlemini yaparken makine merkezlerindeki makine sayılarının değiştirilmesinin yanı sıra farklı öncelik kuralları da kullanılarak sistemin performans ölçütleri elde edilmiştir. Kullanılan öncelik kuralları SPT, EDD, CR, FCFS olmuştur. Her bir öncelik kuralı için farklı bir YSA eğitilmiştir. Çözüm elde etmek için istenilen performans ölçütleri eğitilen bu altı farklı YSA ya verilir. Elde edilen sonuçlar tekrar simüle edilerek performans ölçüleri elde edilir. İstenilen performans ölçülerine en yakın performans değerleri çözüm olarak alınır. Alınan bu çözümden daha iyi bir çözüm olup olmadığının araştırılması için ise Tavlama Benzetimi yaklaşımı kullanılır. Eğitilen YSA’ ların %0.5 hata verme olasılığı vardır. Bu yüzden az bir olasılıkla da olsa gözden kaçan iyi bir çözüm varsa bunu yakalamak için Tavlama Benzetimi yaklaşımı kullanılmıştır. Alınan 100 farklı çözümün 12 tanesinde YSA dan elde edilen çözümden daha iyi bir çözüm elde edilmiştir.   The usage of simulation methods is one of indispensable methods in the design of production systems. However, if there are some other solution alternatives to be eliminated, there should be some other solution methods to be used with simulation method. The most used methods for this purpose are mainly artificial neural networks (ANN), then genetic algorithms, simulated annealing, particle swarm optimization. In this study, an artificial neural network has been trained by using obtained performance criterion belonging production system as a result of simulation studies. In other words, when the performance criteria are entered to ANN, ANN gives the number of machines that should be in each machine center. Additionally, the most important factor affecting the per-formance of production systems is the priority rules used in the system. Therefore, in addition to changing the number of machines during the implementation of the simulation process in the machine centers performance criteria of the system have been obtained by using various priority rules. The used priority rules have been SPT, EDD, CR, FCFS. For each priority rule different neural network has been trained. To obtain the solution, re-quired performance criteria are given to these trained four neural networks. The performance criteria are obtained by re-simulation of the obtained results. The nearest performance values to the performance criteria are taken as solution. The simulated annealing approach is used to investigate whether there is a better solution than this tak-en solution. There is error possibility of the trained neural networks as %0.5. Therefore, simulated annealing ap-proach has been used to capture better solution missed if there is. %12 of the solutions among the obtained dif-ferent solutions have been found better than the solutions obtained by using ANN

Possıble Changes In Sunflower Plantatıons, Productıon Quantıty And Yıeld Value In Turkey

Ayçiçeği, üretim miktarı ve tüketimden aldığı pay bakımından Türkiye’nin önemli yağ bitkilerinden biridir. Zaman serisi ve quadratik tipi fonksiyon kullanılarak yapılan çalışmada, Türkiye’nin ayçiçeği ekim alanı, üretim miktarı ve verim değerleri incelenerek, olası tahminlerde bulunulmuştur. Trend analizleri sonucunda, 2011 yılı için Türkiye’nin ayçiçeği ekim alanı, üretim miktarı ve verim değerinde artış olacağı öngörüsünde bulunulmuştur. Çalışma sonucunda, ürün alım fiyatı, fark desteği ile mazot desteklerinin günümüz şartlarına uygun olarak belirlenmesi ve tohumluk girdisinin de destekleme kapsamına alınması halinde, Türkiye’de ayçiçeği üretiminin daha uygun şartlarda yapılabileceği ve üretimde artış sağlanabileceği anlaşılmıştır. Bununla birlikte çalışmada, ayçiçeği üretiminin sulu şartlarda yapılması, yüksek yağ oranına sahip tohumlukların kullanılması ve toprak analizine dayalı gübrelemenin yaygınlaştırılması halinde, ülkenin bitkisel yağ açığının mevcut tarımsal potansiyelin kullanılarak kapatılabilmesinin mümkün olabileceği sonucuna varılmıştır.Sunflower is one of the most important oily seeds owing to its both share in consumption and production amount in Turkey. In this study, sunflower plantation area, production amount and yield value in Turkey have been examined and estimations have been done by using time series and quadratic type function. According to trend analyses, it is estimated that Turkey’s sunflower plantation area, production quantity and yield value will increase in 2011. As a result of the study, it is understood that if the buying price of the product, premium support and fuel subsidy are fixed according to the recent circumstances and sunflower seed input is included into the subsidying system, sunflower production in Turkey will be made in better conditions and a rise in production will be achieved. Along with this, if sunflower production is carried in wet conditions, seeds containing high oil rate are used and fertilizing depending on the soil analysis becomes common, then it is concluded that it will be possible to meet the vegetative oil deficit by using the agricultural potential

Susceptibility patterns and cross resistances of antibiotics against Pseudomonas aeruginosa in a teaching hospital of Turkey

BACKGROUND: Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the third most common pathogen responsible for nosocomial infections and the prevalence of multiple resistant isolates has been increasing. Ninety-nine clinical isolates were studied in order to assess the current levels of susceptibility and cross-resistances of widely used antipseudomonal antibiotics against P. aeruginosa and to determine some resistance mechanisms by phenotypic methods. METHODS: MICs of isolates for nine antipseudomonal antibiotics were determined by the E test method. RESULTS: Thirty-six percent of isolates were resistant to more than one group of antibiotics. The rates of susceptible isolates were ciprofloxacin 75%, amikacin 73%, ceftazidime 65%, meropenem 63%, imipenem 63%, piperacillin/tazobactam 60%, cefoperazone/sulbactam 59%, cefepime 54% and tobramycin 44%. The majority of carbapenem resistant isolates were susceptible to ciprofloxacin and amikacin. CONCLUSION: Ciprofloxacin seems to be the most active agent against P. aeruginosa followed by amikacin in our unit. The usefulness of combinations of these antibiotics and β-lactams should be tested in treating multi-drug resistant P. aeruginosa

Determination of compressive strength of perlite-containing slag-based geopolymers and its prediction using artificial neural network and regression-based methods

This study has two main objectives: (i) to investigate the parameters affecting the compressive strength (CS) of perlite-containing slag-based geopolymers and (ii) to predict the CS values obtained from experimental studies. In this regard, 540 cubic geopolymer samples incorporating different raw perlite powder (RPP) replacement ratios, different sodium hydroxide (NaOH) molarity, different curing time, and different curing temperatures for a total of 180 mixture groups were produced and their CS results were experimentally determined. Then conventional regression analysis (CRA), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS), and TreeNet methods, as well as artificial neural network (ANN) methods, were used to predict the CS results of geopolymers using this experimentally obtained data set. Root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), scatter index (SI) and Nash-Sutcliffe (NS) performance statistics were used to evaluate the CS prediction capabilities of the methods. As a result, it was determined that the optimum molarity, curing time, and curing temperature were 14 M, 24 h, and 110 celcius, respectively and 48 h of heat curing did not have a significant effect on increasing the CS of the geopolymers. The highest performances in regression-based models were obtained from the MARS method. However, the ANN method showed higher prediction performance than the regression-based methods. Considering the RMSE values, it was seen that the ANN method made improvements by 24.7, 2.1, and 13.7 %, respectively, compared to the MARS method for training, validation, and test sets

Serum SCUBE-1 levels and return of spontaneous circulation following cardiopulmonary resuscitation in adult patients

Background SCUBE 1-has been used as a biomarker for the diagnoses of myocardial infarction, stroke, mesenteric ischemia, and gastric cancer in some recent studies. In this study, we investigated the relationship between serum SCUBE-1 levels and return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) in patients who received cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). Methods Patients over 18 years of age who were not pregnant and received CPR were divided into two groups: those who achieved ROSC and those who died. There were 25 patients in each group. SCUBE-1 and other routine biochemical parameters were studied in blood samples taken at the time of admission. Results There was no significant difference between the age and gender distribution of the patients between the two groups. The SCUBE-1 value of the ROSC group was significantly higher than that of the non-survivor group ( p ˂ 0.05). At a cut-off value of 9 ng/mL, SCUBE-1 had a sensitivity of 100%, a positive predictive value of 65.8%, specificity of 48%, and a negative predictive value of 100% in predicting ROSC. Conclusions The SCUBE-1 values were found to be significantly higher in the ROSC group compared with the non-survivor group