Focusing on the ethnobotanical uses of plants in Mersin and Adana provinces (Turkey)

This paper presents the result of a study on the herbal drugs in the herbal markets in Mersin and Adana. The data were collected through direct interviews with herbalists and customers between 2002–2005 and the popular medicinal plants were investigated. A total of 107 species belonging to 56 families were investigated and the samples were listedwith their local and Latin names. The investigation includes cross-checking the disorders and their herbal cures and their recommended use stated by the local herbalists, by the parts used, and by the preparations. The cultivated species and their ethno botanical uses, are documented and extensive inventory is presented. As a result, we observed that these plants are used especially for intestinal digestive disorders of the gastrointestinal tract, (21.68%), respiratory tract system disorders (10.43%), heart-blood circulatory system disorders (8.48%), urinary tract system disorders (7.70%), skin disorders (6.48%) and others

On the efficacy of a novel optimized tuned mass damper for minimizing dynamic responses of cantilever beams

This study examines the optimal design of a tuned mass damper (TMD) in the frequency domain so that the dynamic response of cantilever beams can be decreased. Random vibration theory is applied to identify the mean square acceleration of the endpoint of a cantilever beam as the objective function to be reduced. In addition, to determine the optimal TMD coefficient of mass, stiffness, and damping, a differential evolution (DE) optimization algorithm is employed. The upper and lower limit values of these parameters are taken into account. A majority of the previous studies have concentrated on determining just the stiffness and damping parameters of TMD. Nonetheless, in this study there is also the optimization of TMD mass parameters to determine the mass quantity. In addition, there has been inefficient use of the stochastic DE optimization algorithm method for the optimization of TMD parameters in previous studies. Hence, to obtain optimal TMD parameters, this algorithm is precisely used on the objective function. Tests are carried out on the cantilever beam with the TMD system following this optimization method with harmonic base excitations that resonate the foremost modes of the beam and white noise excitation. The method proposed here is reasonably practical and successful regarding the optimal TMD design. When a TMD is designed appropriately, the response of the cantilever beam under dynamic interactions undergoes a considerable reduction

Self-perceived Body Weight Status and Weight-control Behaviors of High School Students in a Southern City of Turkey

Defining »healthy weight« is not easy and for an adolescent with all concerns about newly developing physiognomy it is even harder. The aim of this study was to find out the frequency of obesity and the association between the body mass index (BMI), weight-control behaviors and self-perceived body weight status in high school students of a southern city of Turkey. The students from 10 schools were randomly selected among 46,271 students of 72 high schools in Adana from 1999 to 2000. The response rate was 94.8% (2,352/2480). The Turkish version of Youth Risk Behavior Survey Questionnaire (YRBSQ) was completed by the students. The students’ weights and heights were measured. The mean age was 16.5±1.0 years of age (range=14–21 years). The mean BMI was 21.0±3.1, 25.5% of students were underweight, 65.7% were normal, 6.4% were overweight and 2.3% were obese (p=0.0001). Of all students, 24.3% defined themselves as thin, 45.3% as normal, 24.9% as overweight and 5.5% as obese (p=0.0001). The percentage of girls defining their body weight as overweight and obese was significantly higher than the boys (p=0.0001). Of all students, 35.5% wanted to lose weight, 22.3% wanted to gain weight, 27.8% wanted to keep their current weight. Intention (p=0.0001) and interventions to lose weight such as going on a diet (p=0.0001), provocative vomiting (p=0.0001) and 24-hours starving (p=0.0001) were significantly higher in girls than boys. Of students, 26.8% (n=620) were on a diet program either to lose or to keep their body weight. There was significant relationship between being on a diet program and intention to change body weight (p=0.047). We concluded that adolescents living in Adana have relatively higher risk of being underweight than being obese and have unhealthy weight changing plans due to their misperception of their body images. Adolescents may be unconscious on plans and attempts to change their body weights and nutrition and we suggest that education on nutrition and health is required for adolescents

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI