Solutions for a class of iterated singular equations

Some fundamental solutions of radial type for a class of iterated elliptic singular equations including the iterated Euler equation are given.Comment: 7 page

Damages of Masonry School Buildings on 2010 Karakocan - Elazig Earthquake

Masonary school buildings were damaged very heavly or coolapsed in Karakocan-Elazig-Turkey earthquake with M=6.0 occurred on 08 March 2010 at 04:32 a.m. (local time) at eastern Turkey and caused the loss of life and heavy damages, as well. The majority of the damaged structures were seismically deficient unreinforced masonry structures.. In this paper, results of the site survey of Earthquake region -the damaged masonary school buildings are presented and the reasons behind the damages are discussed.One of the most common reasons was the use of wrong material. Red bricks, Rubble stone, shaped soft stone blocks and very low guality mortar as binding material were the wall materials commonly used in the damaged buildings. Red brick, Soft stone blocks have low strength values. Another common reason is lack of interlocking element to connect the inner and outer leaves of the masonary walls to each other. Because of this deficiency, the unsupported length of the outer leaf of the wall was doubled, but its effective thickness was decreased to the half of the wall thickness.Insufficient connection of the walls to each other was also a common reason of the damages . As a result of this deficiency the free span of the external wall was too much to resist aganist out of plane failure.Wrong placement of the openings in the walls was among the most common damage reasons.Insuffucient bond beams along the walls and a heavy - inclined roof were also important reasons.Topography of the region was also effective in the damages. Many of the damaged buildings were located on the hills with a high slope

Problem-Oriented Conceptual Model and Ontology for Enterprise e-Recruitment

Internet-led labour market has become so competitive forcing many organisations from different sectors to embrace e-recruitment. However, realising the value of the e-recruitment from a Requirements Engineering (RE) analysis perspective is challenging. The research is motivated by the results of a failed e-recruitment project as a case study by focusing on the difficulty of scoping and representing recruitment problem knowledge to systematically inform the RE process towards an e-recruitment solution specification. In this paper, a Problem-Oriented Conceptual Model (POCM) supported by an Ontology for Recruitment Problem Definition (Onto-RPD) for contextualisation of the enterprise e-recruitment problem space is presented. Inspired by Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), the POCM and Onto-RPD are produced based on the detailed analysis of three case studies: (1) Secureland Army Enlistment, (2) British Army Regular Enlistment, and (3) UK Undergraduate Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). The POCM and the ontology are demonstrated and evaluated by a focus group against a set of criteria. The evaluation showed a valuable contribution of the POCM in representing and understanding the recruitment problem and its complexity

Nutrient contents and in vitro digestibility of different parts of corn plant

AbstractThe objective of this study was to assess the nutrient contents and in vitro true digestibility (IVTD) of parts of the corn plant. The corn used in the study was P2088, a variety that is grown widely in Turkey. It had matured and was harvested 140 days after planting. Four replicate plants were separated into nine parts, namely lower stalk, central stalk, upper stalk, corn ear stalk, corn ear shuck, kernels, corn cob, leaf, tassel, plus the entire plant. The samples were dried and ground for analysis. Nutritional values were determined in the laboratory and in vitro digestibility was assessed. Significant differences in nutrient content were observed among parts of the corn plant. The highest crude protein (CP) content was found in the leaf (12.41%), followed by the grain (12.37%). Dry matter (DM) varied from 91.25% to 96.07%. The highest ether extract (EE) was in the grain (2.84%), and the upper stalk contained the least EE (0.29%). The parts also differed in their contents of crude cellulose (CS) and crude ash (CA) (P <0.001). Most organic matter (OM) was found in the corn cup (94.27%). The highest in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) was in the kernels (79.06%) and the lowest was in the lower stalk (38.13%). In terms of in vitro true organic matter digestibility (OMD) values of the corn plant and its 9 parts, the highest values were found in the kernels and the lowest in the lower stalk.Keywords: crude nutrients, in vitro true digestibility, parts of corn plan

unreinforced masonry buildings

A recent earthquake of M=4.9 occurred on 29 October 2007 in C, ameli, Denizli, which is located in a seismically active region at southwest Anatolia, Turkey. It has caused extensive damages at unreinforced masonry buildings like many other cases observed in Turkey during other previous earthquakes. Most of the damaged structures were non-engineered, seismically deficient, unreinforced masonry buildings. This paper presents a site survey of these damaged buildings. In addition to typical masonry damages, some infrequent, event-specific damages were also observed. Reasons for the relatively wide spread damages considering the magnitude of the event are discussed in the paper

Effects of various inulin levels on in vitro digestibility of corn silage, perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and common vetch (Vicia sativa L.)/oat (Avena sativa L.) hay

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of various inulin levels on in vitro true dry matter digestibility (IVTDDM) and in vitro neutral detergent fibre digestibility (IVTDNDF) of corn silage (CS), perennial ryegrass (PR), and common vetch/oat hay (VO). Inulin was added to the fermenter at concentrations of 0 (CSC, PRC, VOC), 100 (CS100, PR100, VO100), 200 (CS200, PR200, VO200), and 300 (CS300, PR300, VO300) mg/litre of total culture fluid using an in vitro DaisyII incubator. Each fermenter contained 1600 ml buffer solution and 400 ml rumen fluid. The IVTDDM and IVTDNDF were determined with a DaisyII incubator and rumen fluid obtained from three cannulated Karayaka rams. The IVTDDM values (%) for PRC, PR100, PR200, and PR300 were 70.06 ± 1.133, 73.21 ± 4.153, 70.36 ± 0.506, and 66.69 ± 1.317, respectively. The effects of various inulin levels on IVTDDM and IVTDNDF values of PR were significant (P <0.05). The IVTDDM and IVTDNDF values for CS and VO were not significantly (P >0.05) different. Among the treatments, supplementation of inulin to CS and VO did not have a significant (P >0.05) effect on IVTDDM and IVTDNDF values. The high dose of inulin (PR300) reduced IVTDDM and IVTDNDF, whereas PR100 showed a statistically significant (P <0.05) increase on IVTDDM and IVTDNDF. However, in vivo studies with PR may be required to show the effects of various levels of inulin supplementation to support the IVTD findings of the current study.Keywords: Inulin, in vitro true digestibility, hay, silag

Conceptualising and Modelling E-Recruitment Process for Enterprises through a Problem Oriented Approach

Internet-led labour market has become so competitive it is forcing many organisations from different sectors to embrace e-recruitment. However, realising the value of the e-recruitment from a Requirements Engineering (RE) analysis perspective is challenging. This research was motivated by the results of a failed e-recruitment project conducted in military domain which was used as a case study. After reviewing the various challenges faced in that project through a number of related research domains, this research focused on two major problems: (1) the difficulty of scoping, representing, and systematically transforming recruitment problem knowledge towards e-recruitment solution specification; and (2) the difficulty of documenting e-recruitment best practices for reuse purposes in an enterprise recruitment environment. In this paper, a Problem-Oriented Conceptual Model (POCM) with a complementary Ontology for Recruitment Problem Definition (Onto-RPD) is proposed to contextualise the various recruitment problem viewpoints from an enterprise perspective, and to elaborate those problem viewpoints towards a comprehensive recruitment problem definition. POCM and Onto-RPD are developed incrementally using action-research conducted on three real case studies: (1) Secureland Army Enlistment; (2) British Army Regular Enlistment; and (3) UK Undergraduate Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS). They are later evaluated in a focus group study against a set of criteria. The study shows that POCM and Onto-RPD provide a strong foundation for representing and understanding the e-recruitment problems from different perspectives

The effects of seasonal variation on the microbial-n flow to the small intestine and prediction of feed intake in grazing karayaka sheep

The objectives of the present study were to estimate the microbial-N flow to the small intestine and to predict the digestible organic matter intake (DOMI) in grazing Karayaka sheep based on urinary excretion of purine derivatives (xanthine, hypoxanthine, uric acid and allantoin) by the use of spot urine sampling under field conditions. In the trial, 10 Karayaka sheep from 2 to 3 years of age were used. The animals were grazed in a pasture for ten months and fed with concentrate and vetch plus oat hay for the other two months (January and February) indoors. Highly significant linear and cubic relationships (P<0.001) were found among months for purine derivatives index, purine derivatives excretion, purine derivatives absorption, microbial-N and DOMI. Through urine sampling and the determination of levels of excreted urinary PD and the Purine Derivatives:Creatinine ratio (PDC index), microbial-N values were estimated and they indicated that the protein nutrition of the sheep was insufficient. In conclusion, the prediction of protein nutrition of sheep under the field conditions may be possible with the use of spot urine sampling, urinary excreted PD and PDC index. The mean purine derivative levels in spot urine samples from sheep were highest in June, July and October. Protein nutrition of pastured sheep may be affected by weather changes, including rainfall. Spot urine sampling may useful in modeling the feed consumption of pasturing sheep. However, further studies are required under different field conditions with different breeds of sheep to develop spot urine sampling as a model

FREQUENCY RATIO ASSESSMENT FOR LANDSLIDES TRIGGERED BY 6 FEBRUARY 2023 KAHRAMANMARAS TURKIYE EARTHQUAKES BETWEEN GOLBASI AND ERKENEK

Landslides triggered by earthquakes are significant geological hazards that can have devastating consequences, posing risks to human lives, infrastructure, and the environment. These seismic events may cause the instability of slopes and result in the displacement of soil and rock materials, leading to landslides. It is crucial to understand the characteristics and mechanisms of earthquake-triggered landslides in order to effectively manage and mitigate their associated risks. The number of landslides triggered by the 2023 Kahramanmaraş earthquakes (with magnitudes of 7.7 and 7.6) was over three thousand and their destructive effects were also devastating as secondary hazards. This study aims to examine the characteristics of landslides using the frequency ratio (FR) model. A landslide susceptibility map (LSM) was also produced using the output. For this purpose, in this study, we derived landslides triggered by the earthquakes in a part of the earthquake-affected region, between Golbasi town of Adiyaman and Erkenek village of Malatya covering an area with a size of 625 km2. The study utilized a landslide inventory that was manually delineated by visual interpretation based on pre-event and post-event. These associations can serve as a foundation for the application of various data-driven machine learning techniques. The findings of this study will contribute to the development of accurate LSMs, providing crucial insights into the behavior of earthquake-triggered landslides

Field-Cycling Relaxometry as a Molecular Rheology Technique: Common Analysis of NMR, Shear Modulus and Dielectric Loss Data of Polymers vs Dendrimers

© 2015 American Chemical Society. Linear poly(propylene glycol) (PPG) as well as a poly(propyleneimine) (PPI) dendrimer with different molar masses (M) are investigated by field-cycling (FC) 1H NMR, shear rheology (G) and dielectric spectroscopy (DS). The results are compared in a reduced spectral density representation: the quantity R1(ωαα)/R1α(0), where R1(ωαα) is the master curve of the frequency dependent spin-lattice relaxation rate with αα denoting the local correlation time, is compared to the rescaled dynamic viscosity n′(ωαα)/n′α(0). The quantities R1α(0) and n′α(0), respectively, are the zero-frequency limits of a simple liquid reference system. Analogously, the dielectric loss data can be included in the methodological comparison. This representation allows quantifying the sensitivity of each method with respect to the polymer-specific relaxation contribution. Introducing a "cumulative mode ratio" Fi(M) for each technique i, which measures the zero-frequency plateau of the rescaled spectral density, characteristic power-law behavior Fi(M) Mα i is revealed. In the case of PPG, FNMR(M), FG(M), and FDS(M) essentially agree with predictions of the Rouse model yielding characteristic exponents αi. The crossover to entanglement dynamics is identified by a change in αi around M ≅ 10 kg/mol. The analysis is extended to the dendrimer which exhibits a relaxation behavior reminiscent of Rouse dynamics. Yet, clear evidence of entanglement is missing. The M-dependencies of the dendrimer diffusion coefficient D obtained by pulsed field-gradient NMR and the zero-shear viscosity are found to be D(M) M-1.6±0.2 and (M) M1.9±0.2, respectively, in good agreement with our theoretical prediction n(M) M1/3 D-1(M). The close correspondence of R1(ωαα) with n′(ωαα) establishes FC NMR as a powerful tool of "molecular rheology" accessing the microscopic processes underlying macroscopic rheological behavior of complex fluids