Fuzzy Recommendations in Marketing Campaigns

The population in Sweden is growing rapidly due to immigration. In this light, the issue of infrastructure upgrades to provide telecommunication services is of importance. New antennas can be installed at hot spots of user demand, which will require an investment, and/or the clientele expansion can be carried out in a planned manner to promote the exploitation of the infrastructure in the less loaded geographical zones. In this paper, we explore the second alternative. Informally speaking, the term Infrastructure-Stressing describes a user who stays in the zones of high demand, which are prone to produce service failures, if further loaded. We have studied the Infrastructure-Stressing population in the light of their correlation with geo-demographic segments. This is motivated by the fact that specific geo-demographic segments can be targeted via marketing campaigns. Fuzzy logic is applied to create an interface between big data, numeric methods for processing big data and a manager.Comment: conferenc

Nosocomial hepatitis C virus infection in a renal transplantation center

AbstractNosocomial hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections were recorded in the renal transplantation unit of the university hospital. There were cases of acute HCV infection with aggressive clinical courses diagnosed from a positive HCV RNA test in the early post-transplantation period and which remained anti-HCV negative. Their anti-HCV seronegativity was attributed to them having acquired HCV under intense immunosuppressive therapy and suggested that the aggressive clinical course could be due to the deficient immune response resulting in an inability to limit viral replication. There were also donors diagnosed as having acute HCV infection in the early post-operative period. Genotyping and sequence analysis for HCV were performed on the isolates of eight of these patients who were consecutively transplanted and of three donors whose recipients were infected with HCV prior to transplantation, and who acquired acute HCV infection after transplantation. Of the eight recipients in the first group three were genotype 1a, three were genotype 1b, one wasgenotype 3a, and the last one was genotype 4 according to Simmond's classification. Of the three donor-recipient couples both the HCV isolates from one couple were genotyped as 1b and the phylogenetic analysis indicated that the patients were infected with a common variant of HCV, but the genotypesof HCV isolates from the other couples were different. Recipients were genotype 1b and the donors were genotype 1a in these couples. Genotype results of the first group and donor-recipient couples, and sequence analysis of genotype 1b and 1a isolates, showed that the source of infection was not a unique strain and there were multiple breaks in universal precautions while managing these patients

Turkey and EU/rope: Discourses of inspiration/anxiety in Turkey's foreign policy

The literature on Turkey-European Economic Community/Union (EEC/EU) relations scrutinises how various EEC/EU actors vacillate on Turkey's accession to European integration contingent upon their image/s of Turkey. Turkey's own wavering vis-à-vis EEC/EU, however, is almost always explained with reference to its domestic dynamics (political and economic ups and downs) but not Turkey's policy-makers' image/s of the European Community/Union. What often goes unacknowledged is that throughout the history of Turkey-EEC/EU relations, Turkey's policy-makers' discourses have oscillated between representing EU/rope as a source of inspiration and a source of anxiety. Contra those readings of Turkey's relations with EU/rope as revolving around the dichotomy of 'Turkey being European/not', our analysis of Turkey's policy-makers' discourses on EEC/EU at key moments of the relationship during 1959-2004 shows that Turkey's policy-makers' representations of EU/rope are structured around three binaries that give away a persistent ambivalence vis-à-vis EU/rope as a source of and a solution to Turkey's insecurities. Such ambivalence, in turn, is not uncharacteristic of post-colonial encounters

Relative bioavailability study of a generic effervescent tablet formulation of dexketoprofen and thiocolchicoside versus the originator 25 mg film coated tablet (dexketoprofen) and 8 mg capsule (thiocolchicoside)

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the pharmacokinetic profiles and the relative bioavailability of dexketoprofen and thiocolchicoside of the test preparation (dexketoprofen / thiocolchicoside 25 mg / 8 mg effervescent tablet) in comparison with the reference preparations (Keral 25 mg film coated tablet, containing dexketoprofen trometamol equivalent to 25 mg dexketoprofen (Menarini International Operations Luxembourg S.A.) (R1) and Muscoril 8 mg capsule, containing 8 mg thiocolchicoside (Sanofi Aventis İlaçları Ltd. Şti.) (R2) under fasting conditions. Methods: 25 healthy male subjects were enrolled in the study. Volunteers were hospitalised from the evening before drug administration (Day 0) until after the 24-hour blood sampling time on Day 2. Results: 24 subjects completed the study. Relative bioavailability (AUCT/AUCR1) of dexketoprofen from the test preparation was 100.99 %; (AUCT/AUCR2) of 3-O-glucuronide of thiocolchicoside (aglycone) from the test preparation was 100.47 %; (Cmax,T/Cmax,R1) of dexketoprofen from the test preparation was 122.59 %; (Cmax,T/Cmax,R2) of 3-O-glucuronide of thiocolchicoside (aglycone) from the test preparation was 111.43 %. Conclusions: The relative bioavailability AUCT /AUCR of the test preparation compared with both reference preparations is comparable, as shown by the geometric mean ratios of 100.59 % (dexketoprofen) and of 98.20 % (3-O-glucuronide of thiocolchicoside (aglycone)

Authoritarian Neoliberalism and Democratic Backsliding in Turkey: Beyond the Narratives of Progress

Unpacking the core themes that are discussed in this collection, this article both offers a research agenda to re-analyse Turkey’s ‘authoritarian turn’ and mounts a methodological challenge to the conceptual frameworks that reinforce a strict analytical separation between the ‘economic’ and the ‘political’ factors. The paper problematises the temporal break in scholarly analyses of the AKP period and rejects the argument that the party’s methods of governance have shifted from an earlier ‘democratic’ model – defined by ‘hegemony’ – to an emergent ‘authoritarian’ one. In contrast, by retracing the mechanisms of the state-led reproduction of neoliberalism since 2003, the paper demonstrates that the party’s earlier ‘hegemonic’ activities were also shaped by authoritarian tendencies which manifested at various levels of governance

Evaluation of Incidence and Clinical Features of Antibody-Associated Autoimmune Encephalitis Mimicking Dementia

Background. Anti-neuronal autoimmunity may cause cognitive impairment that meets the criteria for dementia. Objective. Our aim was to detect the incidence and clinical features of autoimmune encephalitis imitating clinical findings of primary dementia disorders and to delineate the validity of anti-neuronal antibody screening in dementia patients. Methods. Fifty consecutive patients fulfilling the clinical criteria for primary dementia, 130 control patients, and 50 healthy controls were included. Their sera were investigated for several ion channel and glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) antibodies by a cell-based assay, radioimmunoassay, and ELISA, as required. Results. Sixteen patients satisfying dementia criteria had atypical findings or findings suggestive of autoimmune encephalitis. N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antibody was detected in a patient with dementia, Parkinsonism, and REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) fulfilling the criteria for dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). One control patient with bipolar disease displayed low anti-GAD antibody levels. Conclusions. Our study showed for the first time the presence of parkinsonism and RBD in an anti-NMDAR encephalitis patient mimicking DLB. Although autoimmune encephalitis patients may occasionally present with cognitive decline, most dementia patients do not exhibit anti-neuronal antibodies, suggesting that routine analysis of these antibodies in dementia is not mandatory, even though they display atypical features

Manipulating the alpha level cannot cure significance testing

We argue that making accept/reject decisions on scientific hypotheses, including a recent call for changing the canonical alpha level from p = 0.05 to p = 0.005, is deleterious for the finding of new discoveries and the progress of science. Given that blanket and variable alpha levels both are problematic, it is sensible to dispense with significance testing altogether. There are alternatives that address study design and sample size much more directly than significance testing does; but none of the statistical tools should be taken as the new magic method giving clear-cut mechanical answers. Inference should not be based on single studies at all, but on cumulative evidence from multiple independent studies. When evaluating the strength of the evidence, we should consider, for example, auxiliary assumptions, the strength of the experimental design, and implications for applications. To boil all this down to a binary decision based on a p-value threshold of 0.05, 0.01, 0.005, or anything else, is not acceptable