Time-series Forecasting of Energy Demand in Electric Vehicles and Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Energy Demand

The increase in environmental problems such as climate change and air pollution caused by global warming has risen the popularity of electric vehicles (EVs) used in the smart grid environment. The increasing number of EVs can affect the grid in terms of power loss and voltage bias by changing the existing demand profile. Effective predicting of EVs energy demand ensures reliability and robustness of grid use, as well as aiding investment planning and resource allocation for charging infrastructures. In this study, the electricity demand amounts in two different cities are modeled by Support Vector Regression, Random Forest, Gauss Process, and Multilayer Perceptron algorithms. The findings reveal that electric vehicle owners usually start to charge their vehicles during the daytime, the COVID-19 pandemic causes a serious decrease in EVs energy demand, and the support vector regression (SVR) is more successful in energy demand forecasting. Furthermore, the results indicate that the decrease in electricity demand during the COVID-19 pandemic caused reduces in the prediction accuracy of the SVR model (decrease of 17.1% in training and 12.6% in test performance,

Evaluation of Students’ Skills in Software Project

Software project probably is a sector that has witnessed the highest rate of project failure in the world. The industry claims that the software engineering graduates are not able to meet their requirements in software industry. This is surprising to the academia that offers software engineering specialization. This type of situation is creating the barrier between the software industry and academics and the efforts are made to reduce the gap. So it is important identify weaknesses of projects. This paper outlines evaluating questionnaire about the student projects in software development courses student projects. The questions were intended to test students’ soft skills and hard skills. This questionnaires performed Software Engineering, System Analysis and Design, and Agile Software Development courses in the Department of Computer Engineering. All of these courses are project based learning. In this study, soft skills and hard skills in software development courses students project evaluated. The purpose of this study identify the students project weaknesses in project based courses to provide better quality education in software development courses, preparing students for professional life, improvement of the success rate of software projects and possibly lead to reduce gap between academy and industry

The Trade Credit Channel of Monetary Policy Transmission: Evidence from Non-Financial Firms in Turkey (Firma Ticari Borclari ve Kredi Aktarim Mekanizmasi: Turkiye Ornegi)

This study investigates the trade credit channel of monetary policy transmission in Turkey by using a large data set of corporate firms, which includes detailed information on balance sheets and income statements of firms regularly reported to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) in the period of 1996-2008. It suggests that the composition of external finance differs considerably across firm types based on size and export performance under tight and loose financial conditions. For both manufacturing and non-manufacturing firms, small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) and firms with low export share are financially constrained especially in tight periods. Findings suggest that those firms, which are financially constrained, tend to substitute trade credits for bank loans in tight periods. On the other hand, the evidence for large and export-oriented firms differs significantly across manufacturing and nonmanufacturing sectors such that manufacturing firms are more likely to have access to bank finance in tight periods compared to non-manufacturing firms. Large trade credits volume in firms’ balance sheets and its response to monetary stance imply that trade credit channel may mute the traditional credit channel of monetary transmission.Credit Channel, Trade Credits, Monetary Policy Transmission

Kuresel Firma Ticari Borclari ve Kredi Aktarim Mekanizmasi

Turkiye’de imalat sanayiinde yer alan firmalarin mali yapisi firma duzeyinde genis bir veri seti kullanilarak 1996-2008 donemi için incelenmistir. Turkiye’de ticari borclarin firma mali yapilarinin baslica unsurlarindan biri olmasi parasal aktarim mekanizmasi acisindan onemli sonuclar icermektedir. Bu baglamda, literaturde yer alan teorik ve ampirik calismalar cercevesinde finansal kosullardaki sikilasma ve gevseme donemleri dikkate alinarak politika faiz oraninin firma dis finansman (ozkaynak disindaki finansman) secenekleri uzerindeki etkisi farkli firma gruplari bazinda analiz edilmistir. Bulgular, incelenen donem itibariyla ticari borc ve banka kredileri arasinda bir ikame oldugunu ve ozellikle kucuk firmalarda soz konusu ikamenin daha da belirginlestigini gostermektedir. Ayrica, buyuk firmalardan farkli olarak, kucuk firmalarin ozellikle finansal kosullarin siki oldugu donemlerde bankacilik sisteminden yeteri derecede kaynak saglayamadiklarini ve daha fazla ticari borc kullanma egiliminde olduklarini yansitmaktadir. Bu durum, buyuk firmalarin finansal kosullarin siki oldugu donemlerde bankalarin ustlenmesi gereken aracilik gorevini kismen yuklenerek kucuk firmalara ticari borc saglamak yoluyla soz konusu firmalarin finansman ihtiyaclarinin karsilanmasina katkida bulunduklarini ve dolayisiyla finansal sikilasmanin reel sektor uzerindeki etkisini yumusatmasina imkan sagladigini ima etmektedir.

Associations between mild hyponatremia and geriatric syndromes in outpatient settings

Purpose: The impact of mild hyponatremia on geriatric syndromes is not clear. Our aim was to determine associations between mild hyponatremia and results of comprehensive geriatric assessment tools in outpatient settings. Methods: We reviewed medical records of 1255 consecutive outpatient elderly subjects and compared results of comprehensive geriatric assessment measures among patients with mild hyponatremia (serum Na+ 130–135 mEq/L) versus normonatremia (serum Na+ 136–145 mEq/L). The comprehensive geriatric assessment measures included the Basic and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, Mini Mental State Examination, Geriatric Depression Score, Tinetti Mobility Test, the Timed Up&Go Test, the Mini Nutritional Assessment, the handgrip test, the Insomnia Severity Index, polypharmacy, recurrent falls, urinary incontinence, orthostatic hypotension, and nocturia. Results: Of the 1255 patients, 855 were female (68.1%), and the mean age was 73.7 ± 8.3 years. Mild hyponatremia was detected in 108 patients (8.6%). The median serum sodium was 140.5 [interquartile range (IQR) 138.4–141.8] versus 133.8 [IQR, 132.3–134.2] in normonatremia and mild hyponatremia groups, respectively (p < 0.001). The only significant difference for comorbidities between normonatremia and mild hyponatremia groups was the frequency of hypertension (66.9% versus 76.7%, respectively (p = 0.041). None of the comprehensive geriatric assessment tools conferred a significant association with mild hyponatremia. Of the 1061 subjects with available survival data, 96 (9.0%) deceased within 3–4 years of follow-up (p = 0.742). Hyponatremia as an independent variable did not have a significant effect on mortality in univariate logistic regression analysis (OR 1.13, 95% CI 0.55–2.33, p = 0.742). Conclusion: Mild hyponatremia does not apparently affect results of geriatric assessments significantly. Whether particular causes of hyponatremia may have different impacts should be tested in further studies

Modeling of atmospheric particulate matters via artificial intelligence methods

Nowadays, pollutants continue to be released into the atmosphere in increasing amounts with each passing day. Some of them may turn into more harmful forms by accumulating in different layers of the atmosphere at different times and can be transported to other regions with atmospheric events. Particulate matter (PM) is one of the most important air pollutants in the atmosphere, and it can be released into the atmosphere by natural and anthropogenic processes or can be formed in the atmosphere as a result of chemical reactions. In this study, it was aimed to predict PM10 and PM2.5 components measured in an industrial zone selected by adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS), support vector regression (SVR), classification and regression trees (CART), random forest (RF), k-nearest neighbor (KNN), and extreme learning machine (ELM) methods. To this end, in the first stage of the study, the dataset consisting of air pollutants and meteorological data was created, the temporal and qualitative evaluation of these data was performed, and the PM (PM10 and PM2.5) components were modeled using the "R" software environment by artificial intelligence methods. The ANFIS model was more successful in predicting the PM10 (R-2 = 0.95, RMSE = 5.87, MAE = 4.75) and PM2.5 (R-2 = 0.97, RMSE = 3.05, MAE = 2.18) values in comparison with other methods. As a result of the study, it was clearly observed that the ANFIS model could be used in the prediction of air pollutants

An Unusual Presentation of Bronchial Rupture

Persistent hydropneumothorax was diagnosed in a 62-year-old female with a history of blunt trauma, although she was treated with chest tube and closed underwater seal drainage. Computed tomography and fiberoptic bronchoscopy findings were consistent with "fallen lung" syndrome. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy also found a cavitary lesion at the right tracheobronchial angle. Forceps biopsy of the cavitary lesion indicated bronchogenic carcinoma. Our final diagnosis was tracheobronchial complete rupture and fallen lung syndrome secondary to malignancy

Risk factors for high fall risk in elderly patients with chronic kidney disease

Purpose: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) usually represent an aging population, and both older age and CKD are associated with a higher risk of falling. Studies on risk factors among subjects with CKD are lacking. Methods: Records of outpatients from one geriatric clinic in Turkey were retrospectively reviewed. A result of ≥ 13.5 s on the timed up and go (TUG) test was accepted as a high risk of falls. Independent predictors of an increased risk of falls among subjects with CKD (estimated glomerular filtration rate of < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2) were identified using logistic regression models. Results: Patients with CKD (n = 205), represented the 20.2% of the entire cohort and was identified as an independent predictor of increased fall risk (OR 2.59). Within the CKD cohort, serum folic acid levels and frailty were independent predictors of an increased risk of falls. The CKD/fall risk group was older, had a lower median years of education, lower vitamin D levels, and lower serum folic acid levels than the CKD/non-fall risk group. In addition to higher serum creatinine and potassium levels, the only significant difference between patients with CKD/fall risk and a matched non-CKD/fall risk was a lower median folic acid level in the former group. Conclusions: Frailty and low folic acid levels are independently associated with an increased risk of falls among elderly outpatients with CKD. Prevention of frailty may reduce the risk of falls in these subjects. Possible benefit of folic acid supplementation requires further studies

Anatomic considerations and the relationship between the piriformis muscle and the sciatic nerve

Stating background The piriformis syndrome is one of the non-discogenics causes of sciatica. It results from the compression of the sciatic nerve (SN) by the piriformis muscle (PM) in the neutral and piriformis stretch test position. The evidence of the increase in pain in the test position requires a detailed anatomical study addressing the changes that occurred in the SN and PM anatomy during the test position. The aim of this study is to examine this relationship morphometrically