Effect of window-to-wall-area ratio on thermal performance of building wall materials in Elazığ, Turkey.

In this study, the effect of glazing-to-total-wall-area ratio on the thermal performance of different wall materials is numerically investigated in terms of heat transmission load. The investigation was performed for a South-facing wall in Elazığ, Turkey. The heat transmission load through walls and windows are determined separately for summer and winter climate conditions. In this analysis, the frame area of the window is not considered. Therefore, whereas the glazing area on uninsulated and insulated walls is increased from 0% to 100%, the heat gain and losses are calculated separately according to the glazing type. The transmission loads through the wall are determined by an implicit finite difference procedure under steady periodic conditions. Concrete, briquettes, bricks, and autoclaved aerated concrete are selected as structure materials. Results show that in the uninsulated wall, the wall material affected the glazing area, whereas in the insulated wall, the effect of wall material on glazing area is insignificant

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

Exploring the Role of Social Anhedonia in the Positive and Negative Dimensions of Schizotypy in a Non-Clinical Sample

Introduction: The present study aimed to investigate the role of social anhedonia, defined as the lack of ability to feel pleasure from interpersonal relationship, in a multidimensional model of schizotypy and to determine the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of Chapman's Revised Social Anhedonia Scale (SAS) in a non-clinical sample. Methods: Second-grade students of Ankara University Medical Faculty were recruited (n=266, Mage=20.28). Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test schizotypy dimensions. The Cronbach's alpha internal consistency value, test-retest reliability and congruent validity of SAS were calculated. Results: The model in which social anhedonia was allowed to load on both schizotypy dimensions fit the data set better than the model in which social anhedonia was allowed to load on negative dimension alone. The internal consistency assessed with Cronbach's alpha was .84, test-retest reliability was r=.76 and the congruent validity of SAS was r=.55. Conclusion: The results of current study were consistent with those of earlier studies showing that social anhedonia was related to both schizotypy dimensions. Furthermore, the psychometric properties of the Turkish Version of SAS revealed that it is a reliable and valid measurement to assess social anhedonia in a non-clinical population.Publisher's Versio

Recognition of faux pas dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, their unaffected relatives and healthy controls

25th Congress of the European-College-of-Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) -- OCT 13-17, 2012 -- Vienna, AUSTRIAOZEL-KIZIL, ERGUVAN TUGBA/0000-0001-9657-1382WOS: 000317948600358…European Coll Neuropsychopharmacol (ECNP

Implicit and explicit verbal memory performances of patients with bipolar disorder, their unaffected relatives and healthy controls

25th Congress of the European-College-of-Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) -- OCT 13-17, 2012 -- Vienna, AUSTRIAOZEL-KIZIL, ERGUVAN TUGBA/0000-0001-9657-1382WOS: 000317948600315…European Coll Neuropsychopharmacol (ECNP

Can remote ischemic preconditioning counteract the renal functional deterioration attributable to partial nephrectomy under warm ischemia? Results of an animal study

Background To investigate if remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) can offer any renoprotective value by counteracting the deleterious effect of partial nephrectomy (PN) under warm ischemia on renal function. Methods Four groups, each with 5 Wistar albino rats, were constructed; RIPC + PN, PN, RIPC and sham. Right nephrectomy was performed to constitute a solitary kidney model. RIPC denoted sequential clamping/declamping of the femoral artery/vein complex. PN was performed under warm-ischemia following RIPC. Blood samples were collected on multiple occasions until euthanasia on day 7. Immunoassays were conducted to measure the serum and tissues levels of kidney injury markers. Kidneys were examined histologically and morphometric analyzes were performed using digital scanning. Results IL-33 levels did not differ significantly between the groups. Serum levels of KIM-1, NGAL, and aldose reductase in RIPC + PN, PN and RIPC groups were significantly lower than that of sham group. Tissue biomarker levels were similar across groups. The observed trend in mean necrosis area of PN group was higher than that of RIPC + PN group (p > 0.05). The transitional zone between necrosis and healthy tissue showed a trend towards increasing width in the rats subjected to RIPC before PN vs. those who underwent PN without RIPC (p > 0.05). Conclusion RIPC failed to counteract the renal functional consequences of PN under warm ischemia in a solitary kidney animal model. The supportive but marginal histological findings in favor of RIPC's renoprotective potential were not supplemented with the changes in serum and tissue biomarker levels