Dynamical Mean-Field Study of the Ferromagnetic Transition Temperature of a Two-Band Model for Colossal Magnetoresistance Materials

The ferromagnetic (FM) transition temperature (Tc) of a two-band Double-Exchange (DE) model for colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) materials is studied using dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT), in wide ranges of coupling constants, hopping parameters, and carrier densities. The results are shown to be in excellent agreement with Monte Carlo simulations. When the bands overlap, the value of Tc is found to be much larger than in the one-band case, for all values of the chemical potential within the energy overlap interval. A nonzero interband hopping produces an additional substantial increase of Tc, showing the importance of these nondiagonal terms, and the concomitant use of multiband models, to boost up the critical temperatures in DE-based theories.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps figure

Acute brucella melitensis M16 infection model in mice treated with tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors

Introduction: There is limited data in the literature about brucellosis related to an intracellular pathogen and anti-tumor necrosis factor alpha (anti-TNFα) medication. The aim of this study was to evaluate acute Brucella infections in mice receiving anti-TNFα drug treatment. Methodology: Anti-TNFα drugs were injected in mice on the first and fifth days of the study, after which the mice were infected with B. melitensis M16 strain. Mice were sacrificed on the fourteenth day after infection. Bacterial loads in the liver and spleen were defined, and histopathological changes were evaluated. Results: Neither the liver nor the spleen showed an increased bacterial load in all anti-TNFα drug groups when compared to a non-treated, infected group. The most significant histopathological findings were neutrophil infiltrations in the red pulp of the spleen and apoptotic cells with hepatocellular pleomorphism in the liver. There was no significant difference among the groups in terms of previously reported histopathological findings, such as extramedullary hematopoiesis and granuloma formation. Conclusions: There were no differences in hepatic and splenic bacterial load and granuloma formation, which indicate worsening of the acute Brucella infection in mice; in other words, anti-TNFα treatment did not exacerbate the acute Brucella spp. infection in mice. © 2015 Kutlu et al

VACCINATION PRACTICES OF ADULT FAMILIAL MEDITERRANEAN FEVER PATIENTS IN TURKEY.

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Influence of scientific stories on students ideas about science and scientists

Abstract This study was conducted to determine whether a lesson, in which context-based learning approach and scientific stories were used, changed students' (aged 11-12) stereotypical images of science and scientists. Data was collected from two separate sources: Interviews conducted with six students and Draw a Scientist Test (DAST) document that was given to 80 students (before and after the intervention). In the study, context-based learning approach with scientific stories was used as intervention after which a change in students' ideas about science and scientists was observed. At the end of the study, changes were observed in various categories of stereotypical images of scientists, such as use laboratory tools (test tubes, glass bottles, magnifying glasses, chemicals, etc.), use of technological appliances (computers, microscopes, telescopes, machines, robots, etc.), scientists who study living things (plants, animals, humans), scientists who study inside a laboratory, scientists who study outdoors (nature, space, etc.). At the same time changes in students' understanding of nature of science were observed. After the intervention, clues about student ideas such as, there is more than one scientific method, there is no single criteria for doing science, scientists use their imagination in their studies, and scientists' studies are not limited to one field were observed. In the course of the study, student's ideas about science changed from a positivist philosophy toward a heuristic philosophy

A Real Space Description of Magnetic Field Induced Melting in the Charge Ordered Manganites: I. The Clean Limit

We study the melting of charge order in the half doped manganites using a model that incorporates double exchange, antiferromagnetic superexchange, and Jahn-Teller coupling between electrons and phonons. We primarily use a real space Monte Carlo technique to study the phase diagram in terms of applied field $(h)$ and temperature $(T)$, exploring the melting of charge order with increasing $h$ and its recovery on decreasing $h$. We observe hysteresis in this response, and discover that the `field melted' high conductance state can be spatially inhomogeneous even without extrinsic disorder. The hysteretic response plays out in the background of field driven equilibrium phase separation. Our results, exploring $h$, $T$, and the electronic parameter space, are backed up by analysis of simpler limiting cases and a Landau framework for the field response. This paper focuses on our results in the `clean' systems, a companion paper studies the effect of cation disorder on the melting phenomena.Comment: 16 pages, pdflatex, 11 png fig

A Real Space Description of Field Induced Melting in the Charge Ordered Manganites: II. the Disordered Case

We study the effect of A site disorder on magnetic field induced melting of charge order (CO) in half doped manganites using a Monte-Carlo technique. Strong A-site disorder destroys CO even without an applied field. At moderate disorder, the zero field CO state survives but has several intriguing features in its field response. Our spatially resolved results track the broadening of the field melting transition due to disorder and explain the unusual dependence of the melting scales on bandwidth and disorder. In combination with our companion paper on field melting of charge order in clean systems we provide an unified understanding of CO melting across all half doped manganites.Comment: 9 pages, pdflatex, 10 embedded png fig

Optimal bundle formation and pricing of two products with limited stock

In this study, we consider the stochastic modeling of a retail firm that sells two types of perishable products in a single period not only as independent items but also as a bundle. Our emphasis is on understanding the bundling practices on the inventory and pricing decisions of the firm. One of the issues we address is to decide on the number of bundles to be formed from the initial product inventory levels and the price of the bundle to maximize the expected profit. Product demands follow a Poisson Process with a price dependent rate. Customer reservation prices are assumed to have a joint distribution. We study the impact of reservation price distributions, initial inventory levels, product prices, demand arrival rates and cost of bundling. We observe that the expected profit decreases as the correlation between the reservation prices of two products increases. With negative correlation, bundling cost has a significant impact on the number of bundles formed. When the product prices are low, the retailer sells individual products as well as the bundle (mixed bundling), when they are high, the retailer sells only bundles (pure bundling). The expected profit and the number of bundles offered decrease as the variance of the reservation price distribution increases. For high starting inventory levels, the retailer reduces bundle price and offers more bundles. The number of bundle sales decreases and the number of individual product sales increases when the arrival rate increases since the need for bundling decreases. Impacts of substitutability and complementarity of products are also investigated. The retailer forms more bundles, or charges higher prices for the bundle or both as the products become more complementary and less substitutable. © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Clinical and Demographic Characteristics and Two-Year Efficacy and Safety Data of 508 Multiple Sclerosis Patients with Fingolimod Treatment

Introduction: Fingolimod is the first oral immunomodulatory treatment used as secondary care therapy in the treatment of multiple sclerosis for the last 10 years. The objective of our study is to reveal the experiences of the first generic fingolimod active ingredient treatment in different centers across Turkey. Method: The first generic fingolimod efficacy and safety data of patients followed-up in 29 different clinical multiple sclerosis units in Turkey were analyzed retrospectively. Data regarding efficacy and safety of the patients were transferred to the data system both before the treatment and on the 6th, 12th and 24th month following the treatment. The data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS 20.00. P value of <0.05 was considered to be statistically significant. Results: A total of 508 multiple sclerosis patients, 331 of whom were women, were included in the study. Upon comparing the Expanded Disability Status values before and after the treatment, a significant decrease was observed, especially at month 6 and thereafter. Since bradycardia occurred in 11 of the patients (2.3%), the first dose had to be longer than 6 hours. During the observation of the first dose, no issues that could prevent the use of the drug occured. Side effects were seen in 49 (10.3%) patients during the course of fingolimod treatment. Respectively, the most frequent side effects were bradycardia, hypotension, headache, dizziness and tachycardia. Conclusion: The observed results regarding efficacy and safety were similar to clinical trial data in the literature and real life data in terms of the first equivalent with fingolimod active ingredient. © 2023, Turkish Neuropsychiatric Society. All rights reserved.Thanks to SANOVEL for funding the publication process

Bio-based polymer nanocomposites based on layered silicates having a reactive and renewable intercalant

Soybean oil-based polymer nanocomposites were synthesized from acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO) combined with styrene monomer and montmorillonite (MMT) clay by using in situ free radical polymerization reaction. Special attention was paid to the modification of MMT clay, which was carried out by methacryl-functionalized and quaternized derivative of methyl oleate intercalant. It was synthesized from olive oil triglyceride, as a renewable intercalant. The resultant nanocomposites were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The effect of increased nanofiller loading in thermal and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The nanocomposites exhibited improved thermal and dynamic mechanical properties compared with neat acrylated epoxidized soybean oil based polymer matrix. The desired exfoliated nanocomposite structure was achieved when the OrgMMT loading was 1 and 2 wt % whereas partially exfoliated nanocomposite was obtained in 3 wt % loading. It was found that about 400 and 500% increments in storage modulus at glass transition and rubbery regions, respectively were achieved at 2 wt % clay loading compared to neat polymer matrix while the lowest thermal degradation rate was gained by introducing 3 wt % clay loading. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Assessment of the sleep parameters in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome with a

Objective: In this study, traffic accident with a history ofobstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) in patientswith polysomnographic parameters was investigated.Methods: A total of 77 OSAS patients were included inthe study. All-night polysomnographic recordings obtainedfrom patients with enuresis parameters and thepresence of traffic accidents recorded in standard form.Results: The mean age of patients was 45.15 ± 11.53years. 53% of the patients were male and 47% female.The mean apnea hypopnea index (AHI) in patients was13.54 events/h. History of traffic accidents was found in12% patients. Apnea hypopnea index, supine AHI, arousalindex and oxygen desaturation index were found significantlydifferent parameters between history of trafficaccidents group and non-history of traffic accidents group(p <0.05).Conclusion: In this study, patients with OSAS severity ofthe disease with a history of traffic accidents were associatedthe relationship between the parameters. This relationshipwith the severity of the disease might be due tothe negative effects on attention. J Clin Exp Invest 2013;4 (2): 204-207Key words: OSAS, traffic accident, AH