Relationship among shopping mall, retail stores, and customers in suburban malls

In this thesis, I have constructed a model in which three distinct actors are in a complicated relationship and sought three answers to the following three main questions. The first one is about the analysis of customers' purchase decisions under the condition of not having information about prices of goods and valuations for that goods before traveling the shopping mall. The second one is related to the analysis of the price decisions of two similar retail stores in the case of charged rental contracts managed by the shopping mall. The last one is the analysis of the determination of parking fee that is known by the customers in advance and of optimum rent contracts including fixed and percentage rent. It is found that the equilibrium parking fees are always less than the marginal cost of supplying parking spaces, which implies that the mall determines the parking fee as a loss leader. The second result is that the price of goods are determined at the monopoly prices even if they sell a similar type of products, which the market tends to compete. And the last result is that shopping mall must implement positive percentage rent toward stores to increase its profit, which perfectly complies with data related to rent leases in shopping centers

Morphological Character of Blasted Talc Particles on Talc Flotation

Abstract -In this study, blasting method was applied to modify the morphology of particles. The extent of blasting was changed at different nozzle pressures through which shape factor and roughness of particles and their corresponding flotation recoveries were investigated. Performance of un-blasted and blasted particles in the system was measured by floating the particles of different characters in a micro-flotation cell. The results of these tests were correlated with shape factors and roughness values of particles that were analysed with Image Analysis, SEM and Optical Profilometer methods. It is shown that particles of higher angularity and roughness exhibited better floatability

“The Lolelaplap (Marshall Islands) in Us: Sailing West to East (Ralik→Ratak) to These Our Atolls (Aelon Kein Ad) Ad Jolet Jen Anij (Our Blessed Inheritance from God)”

This paper discusses the expansion of Oceania through a Marshallese indigenous lens as a focal point. It explains that decolonizing methodologies allows reclaiming of space for mental liberation and reassurement of constitutional rights. It highlights similar occurrences of decolonization practices meeting resistance in the 21st century all while strengthening the human right argument that no human deserves any less than their fellow human brothers and sisters. It argues that an indigenous imagery can only be viewed through an indigenous lens where the researches’ level of purity is retained and unfiltered. It nevertheless argues that Marshallese ethnolinguistics reveal the same cultural practices in America, Judeo-Christianity, and Oceania thus dictating the reality that “we are the same not withstanding one stays here and one there (Bedbedjin Bedbedjen, Bedbedjinma wot Kwe)”. It further explains the importance in these similarities and how Marshallese spirituality predates introduced American Judeo-Christianity despite the latter attempting to marginalize the former. It concludes by stating that Marshallese contributions on the global stage are rooted in that culture of love (IaKwe) which is echoed by the custom(s) revealing the significance of Marshallese validation academically, spiritually, economically, & socially to prevent institutionalized discrimination. This paper ends stating that the agency to know one’s self and how one should fit in the world, is a human right in itself and Marshallese are entitled to this sense of self worth through knowing thy self by thy self where real thinking takes place in one’s own mind as we all live our own lives

First-line treatment of patients with HER2-positive metastatic gastric and gastroesophageal junction cancer

Fluoropyrimidine+cisplatin/oxaliplatin+trastuzumab therapy is recommended for the first-line treatment of HER2-positive metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma. However, there is no comprehensive study on which platinum-based treatment should be preferred. This study aimed to compare the treatment response and survival characteristics of patients with HER2-positive metastatic gastric or gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancer who received fluorouracil, oxaliplatin, and leucovorin (mFOLFOX)+trastuzumab or cisplatin and fluorouracil (CF)+trastuzumab as first-line therapy. It was a multicenter, retrospective study of the Turkish Oncology Group, which included 243 patients from 21 oncology centers. There were 113 patients in the mFOLFOX+trastuzumab arm and 130 patients in the CF+trastuzumab arm. The median age was 62 years in the mFOLFOX+trastuzumab arm and 61 years in the CF+trastuzumab arm (P = 0.495). 81.4% of patients in the mFOLFOX+trastuzumab arm and 83.1% in the CF+trastuzumab arm had gastric tumor localization (P = 0.735). The median progression-free survival (PFS) was significantly higher in the mFOLFOX+trastuzumab arm (9.4 months vs. 7.3 months, P = 0.024). The median overall survival (OS) was similar in both groups (18.4 months vs. 15.1 months, P = 0.640). Maintenance trastuzumab was continued after chemotherapy in 101 patients. In this subgroup, the median OS was 23.3 months and the median PFS was 13.3 months. In conclusion, mFOLFOX+trastuzumab is similar to CF+trastuzumab in terms of the median OS, but it is more effective in terms of the median PFS in the first-line treatment of HER2-positive metastatic gastric and GEJ cancer. The choice of treatment should be made by considering the prominent toxicity findings of the chemotherapy regimens

The frequency of Duchenne muscular dystrophy/Becker muscular dystrophy and Pompe disease in children with isolated transaminase elevation: results from the observational VICTORIA study

IntroductionElevated transaminases and/or creatine phosphokinase can indicate underlying muscle disease. Therefore, this study aims to determine the frequency of Duchenne muscular dystrophy/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) in male children and Pompe disease (PD) in male and female children with isolated hypertransaminasemia.MethodsThis multi-center, prospective study enrolled patients aged 3–216 months with serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and/or aspartate transaminase (AST) levels >2× the upper limit of normal (ULN) for ≥3 months. Patients with a known history of liver or muscle disease or physical examination findings suggestive of liver disease were excluded. Patients were screened for creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) levels, and molecular genetic tests for DMD/BMD in male patients and enzyme analysis for PD in male and female patients with elevated CPK levels were performed. Genetic analyses confirmed PD. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of the patients were analyzed.ResultsOverall, 589 patients [66.8% male, mean age of 63.4 months (standard deviation: 60.5)] were included. In total, 251 patients (188 male and 63 female) had CPK levels above the ULN. Of the patients assessed, 47% (85/182) of male patients were diagnosed with DMD/BMD and 1% (3/228) of male and female patients were diagnosed with PD. The median ALT, AST, and CPK levels were statistically significantly higher, and the questioned neurological symptoms and previously unnoticed examination findings were more common in DMD/BMD patients than those without DMD/BMD or PD (p < 0.001).DiscussionQuestioning neurological symptoms, conducting a complete physical examination, and testing for CPK levels in patients with isolated hypertransaminasemia will prevent costly and time-consuming investigations for liver diseases and will lead to the diagnosis of occult neuromuscular diseases. Trial RegistrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT04120168

Avrupa Birliği’nin sanayi politikası ve Türkiye’nin uyum süreci

Sanayi politikası, ekonomide yapısal değişimi veya yeniden yapılanmayı sağlamak için devletin belli bir sanayi sektörü veya belli bir bölge için aldığı seçici tedbirleri kapsamaktadır. Sanayileşme ve sanayi politikaları 1945'ten bu yana Avrupa'da yoğun olarak tartışılan konulardan biri olmuştur. Avrupa Birliği'nin sanayi politikası, rekabet ve ticaret politikalarının aksine, ancak yakın bir geçmişte, 1992 Maastricht antlaşmasıyla belirgin bir statü ve içerik kazanmıştır. AB Komisyon'unun yeniden yapılandırılması esnasında, 2000 yılının başında sanayi ve KOBİ alanlarından sorumlu genel müdürlükler birleştirilmiştir. Avrupa Birliği'nin sanayi politikasının amaçları; rekabetin güçlendirilmesi, iş ortamının iyileştirilmesi ve endüstriyel değişimin desteklenmesi olarak sıralanabilir. Bu amaçlara ulaşmak için AB çeşitli politika araçları kullanmaktadır. Bu araçlar; gümrük birliği ve malların serbest dolaşımı, araştırma geliştirmeye destek, kobi desteği, ticaret politikası, eğitim - staj politikası ve yasal çerçevenin geliştirilmesidir. Türkiye'nin sanayileşme politikaları incelendiğinde 1960'lı yıllardan bu yana uygulanan iki temel strateji olduğu görülmektedir. Birincisi 1980 öncesinde uygulanan ithal ikameci sanayileşme stratejisi, ikincisi 1980 sonrasında uygulanan ihracata yönelik sanayileşme stratejisidir. Avrupa Birliği, Türkiye'nin en büyük dış ticaret ortağı konumundadır. AB sanayi politikasına uyum, Türkiye'nin dış ticareti açısından pek çok önemli noktayı beraberinde getirmektedir. Dış pazarlarda rekabet gücünü artırmak temel hedefi olduğu için, mevzuat ve politikaların dış ticarete en fazla destek sağlayacak şekilde düzenlenmesi gerekmektedir. Industrial policy includes; the change in the structure of the economy or to assist reprocessing the selective precautions that government take for a specific idustrial sector or for a specific region. Industrialism and industrial policies are one of the most intense arguments in Europe since 1945. In the closer past, EU’s industrial policy, by contrast with competition and trade policies, has gained a specific status and content in Maastricht in 1992. During the reprocessing of commission of EU, industry and Small and Medium Size Enterprises (SME) are merged in the beginning of year 2000. The aim of the EU’s industrial policy is: to reinforce competition, to improve job environment and supporting the industrial changing. To reach these aims EU uses various policy tools. These tools are: customs union and free circulation of the goods, research and development support, trade policy, education-internship policy and improving the legal framework. There are two principle strategies that practiced since 1960’s when Turkish industrial policies are observed. First strategy is, the strategy that practiced before 1980, import focused industrial strategy. Second strategy is the strategy that practiced after 1980 export oriented industrial strategy. Thus, EU is the Turkey’s most important foreign trade partner. With the adaptation to EU’s industrial policy, very important points to Turkey’s foreign trade will occur. The main target is to improve competition in foreign markets, therefore, regulations and policies must have redesigned in order to provide the optimum support for foreign trade

Parmak ucu elektrokardiyogram ve ses sinyali tabanlı biyometrik tanıma sistemi

Text in English ; Abstract: English and TurkishIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 138-146)xvi, 146 leavesFingertip electrocardiogram and speech signal based biometric recognition system In this research work, we presented a one-dimensional CNN-based person identification system which depends on the combination of both speech and ECG modalities to improve the overall performance compared to traditional systems. The proposed method has two approach: one is to develop combination of textindependent speech and fingertip ECG fusion system, the other one is to develop a robust rejection algorithm to prevent unauthorized access to the fusion system. In addition to the system robustness, we have developed an ECG spike and inconsistent beats removing algorithm, which detect and remove the problems caused by either portable fingertip ECG devices or movements of the patients. First approach has been tested on 30, 45, 60, 75 and 90 people which were taken from LibriSpeech Corpus database and combination of both CYBHi and our private fingertip ECG database. The 3-fold cross validation test setup has been conducted while system working time was set to 10 seconds. In the first experiment, we achieved 90.22% accuracy rate for 90 people for ECG based system. For the speech based system, 97.94% accuracy rate has achieved for 90 people. For the combination of both system, 99.92% accuracy rate has been achieved. For the second approach, 90 people for ECG and Speech database were being used as genuine class, 26 people as imposter class, and after the performance evaluation in optimum rejection thresholds, 71.08% accuracy rate for imposters rejection and 71.05% accuracy rate for genuine recognition has achieved for ECG based system. For the speech based system, imposter class were 87.82% accurately rejected while genuine classes were 86.48% accurately identified. The combination of both system has achieved 91.68% accuracy for genuine identification rate whereas 96.05% accuracy for imposter rejection.Araştırmamızda, geleneksel sistemlere nazaran genel performansı iyileştirmek adına hem konuşma hem de EKG sinyallerinin kombinasyonuna dayanan tek boyutlu CNN tabanlı kişi tanıma sistemi geliştirilmiştir. Önerdiğimiz sistem, iki yaklaşım içermektedir: Bunlardan ilki, metinden bağımsız konuşma ve parmak ucu EKG füzyonu ile bir tanıma sistemi elde etmek, diğeri ise bu geliştirilen füzyon tanıma sisteminin yetkisiz kişileri önlemesine yarayan güçlü bir reddetme algoritması geliştirmektir. Bu yaklaşımlara ek olarak, taşınabilir parmak ucu EKG cihazlarının ya da kullanıcının hareketlerinin neden olduğu tutarsızlıkları veya benzeri sorunları tespit etmek ve ortadan kaldırmaya yarayan bir algoritma da geliştirilmiştir. İlk yaklaşım, Libri Speech Corpus ses veri tabanı ve CYBHi veri tabanı ile daha önceden oluşturduğumuz parmak ucu EKG veri tabanlarının birleşiminden alınan 30, 45, 60, 75 ve 90 kişi üzerinde test edilmiştir. 3 kat çapraz doğrulama yöntemiyle, sistem 10 saniyeye yanıt verecek şekilde ayarlanarak testler gerçekleştirilmiştir. İlk deneyde, EKG tabanlı sistemin, 90 kişi üzerinden %90.22 doğruluk oranına ulaştığı saptanmıştır. Konuşma tabanlı sistemin ise 90 kişi üzerinden %97.94 doğruluk oranına ulaştığı tespit edilmiştir. Her iki sinyalin kombinasyonu ise %99.92 doğruluk oranına sahip olduğu gözlemlenmiştir. İkinci yaklaşımda ise, EKG ve konuşma veri tabanlarından 90 kişi hakiki sınıf, 26 kişi ise sahtekar sınıfı olarak ikiye ayrılmıştır ve en uygun reddetme eşit değerlerine ayarlandığı göz önünde bulundurarak %71.05 doğrulukla hakiki sınıfı tanıdığı ve %71.08 doğrulukla sahtekar sınıfı reddettiği, EKG tabanlı sistemde tespit edilmiştir. Konuşma tabanlı sistemin ise, %86.48 doğrulukla hakiki sınıfı tanıdığı, %87.82 doğrulukla da sahtekar sınıfı reddettiği tespit edilmiştir. Her iki sistemin kombinasyonu ile, %91.68 doğrulukla hakiki sınıfı tanıdığı, %96.05 doğrulukla da sahtekar sınıfı reddettiği gözlemlenmiştir.IntroductionSpeaker Recognition SystemInvestigation of Speech ProductionIntroduction to Speaker IdentificationIntroduction to BiosignalsElectrocardiogramElectrocardiogram Measurement12-Lead ECG MeasurementCommon Monitoring ProblemsBaseline WanderingPower line InterferenceMuscle TremorMisleaded ElectrodesComponents of an ECG WaveformP wavePR IntervalQRS ComplexST SegmentT WaveQT intervalIntroduction to ECG based Person Identification SystemDesign of Speech and Fingertip ECG Measurement SystemBlock diagram of Speech and ECG Measurement SystemSchematic of Speech and ECG Measurement SystemECG Signal Recording ResultsDesign of Microphone Array BeamFingerprint Recording ResultsSpeech and Fingertip ECG Signal based Person Recognition SystemBlock diagram of Speech and Fingertip ECG Signal based Person Recognition SystemECG Spikes and Inconsistent Beats DetectionECG SegmentationVector QuantizationK-mean ClusteringK-means Vector Quantization AlgorithmVoice Activity DetectionMel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC)Min Max NormalizationConvolutional Neural NetworkNeural NetworkIntroduction to Perceptron (Single Layer Network)Multilayer Perceptron (Neural Network)Softmax Activation Function for ClassificationUnderstanding of Convolutional Neural NetworkConvolutional LayerPooling OperationFlatten LayerFully Connected LayerUnderstanding of Output Size of Each LayerCNN Architecture of Proposed AlgorithmApproachDecision Rule of Proposed MethodExperimental WorksECG DatasetSpeech DatasetAssessment Criteri

Parmak ucu EKG tabanlı biyometrik tanıma sistemi

Text in English; Abstract: English and TurkishIncludes bibliographical references (leaves 94-98)xviii, 115 leavesThe idea is the; realize biometric recognition system by using ECG signal which was began to use in the last 10 years. Until now, ECG based biometric systems have been developed by using the database which ECG signals are taken from the subjects’ chest by using patient monitor or high speed data acquisition systems. For constructing database, most researchers have used three disposable ECG electrodes on subjects’ chest to extract the ECG signal. Because of that, ECG based biometric systems were being considered hard to use. For this reason, we want to make a system that is easy to carry, and easy to apply on subjects. In most of biometric systems, ECG database have constructed by using ECG signal of the subjects that were taken by using electrodes which were located in left and right side of the heart with a reference electrode on right leg. However, in our system, the database consisted of the ECG signals which were taken by using patient’s right and left thumb. The difference of our system with the others is; there is EMG noise which is in the same frequency range with ECG signal. Because of frequencies are the same, it is very hard to eliminate with filters. For this reason, database was enhanced by applying the different filters on ECG signal to reduce the noises for higher recognition rate. First week of the dataset -which was obtained by using ECG signals of 30 people in two separate weeks- is extracted the personality information by performing AC/DCT and MFCC methods and is reserved as training dataset. ECG signals which obtained by AC/DCT methods in second week are called as test dataset. First candidate is determined by putting the AC/DCT features of an unknown person into the LDA classifier. In the meantime, same person’s MFCC features put into the LDA classifier and the second candidate is determined. If these two candidates are the same, they are labeled as A and B person. If they are not the same person, then QRS frames of the proximate two candidates obtained from AC/DCT features and QRS frames of the proximate two candidates obtained from MFCC features are sent to K-NN algorithm. QRS frames of these 4 candidates are sorted ascending according to the proximity to the QRS frame of unknown person, and nearest candidate to unknown QRS segment is labeled as A and B person. Proposed method was reached to success at rate of %96 average frame recognition.Projenin başlıca amacı, 10 yıldan beri süre gelen EKG sinyali ile yapılan biyometrik sistemlerini, farklı bir ölçüm yöntemiyle gerçekleştirmektir. Şu ana kadar yapılan EKG tabanlı biometrik sistemlerin çoğu, hastanelerde kullanılan hasta başı monitör veya yüksek hızlı veri analiz kartları yardımıyla EKG ölçümlerinin alınarak veri kümelerinin oluşturulmasına dayanmaktadır. Bu kapsamda her bir deneğin göğsüne tek kullanımlık 3 adet elektrot takılarak kanal 1 ölçüm uçlarından EKG sinyali alınmıştır. Her bir denek için kullanılan elektrotlar hem maliyeti arttırmakta, hem de zahmetli bir iş olmaktadır. Bu cihazların pahalı olmasının yanı sıra kullanılabilirlikleri de bir hayli zordur. Bu yüzden amacımız; kolaylıkla taşınabilir, kullanımı kolay, elektrot tak çıkar derdinden kurtaracak bir sistem yaparak biyometrik tanıma sistemini gerçekleştirmek istememizdir. Diğer biyometrik tanıma sistemlerinde, kalbin sağ ve sol tarafına yerleştirilen elektrotlar ve sağ bacağa takılan referans elektrotu ile alınan EKG sinyallerinden oluşan veri kümeleri kullanılmıştır. Sistemimizde ise sağ ve sol kol başparmaklardan alınan EKG sinyallerinin diğer parmakları da referans alarak veri kümesini oluşturmaktayız. Diğer sistemlerden farklı olarak sistemimizde, EKG sinyallerinin üstüne binen EMG gürültüsü daha fazla olmaktadır. EKG ve EMG sinyallerin frekans aralıkları iç içe olduklarından dolayı birbirinden filtreler yardımıyla ayrılması bir hayli zordur. Bu nedenle farklı filtreler uygulayarak EKG sinyallerinin gürültü oranını azaltmaya yönelik yöntemler kullandık ve EKG veri tabanlarımızı geliştirdik. Otuz kişiden iki farklı haftada aldığımız EKG sinyalleriyle oluşturulan veri kümesinin ilk haftası AC/DCT ve MFCC metotlarına uygulanarak kişilik bilgileri çıkartılır ve eğitim veri seti olacak şekilde ayrılır. İkinci hafta aldığımız EKG sinyalleri ise AC/DCT ve MFCC metotlarından geçirilerek test veri seti olarak isimlendirilir. AC/DCT öznitelikleri çıkarılan kişi LDA sınıflandırıcıya sokularak bir aday belirlenir. Eş zamanlı olarak aynı kişinin MFCC öznitelikleri de LDA sınıflandırıcıya sokularak bir aday daha belirlenir. Eğer bu iki aday aynı ise, A veya B kişisi diye etiketlenir. Eğer birbirinden farklı iseler AC/DCT özniteliklerinden çıkarılan en yakın iki adayın QRS bölütleri ve MFCC özniteliklerinden çıkarılan en yakın iki adayın QRS bölütleri K-NN algoritmasına gönderilir. Bu dört adayın QRS bölütleri, bilinmeyen kişinin QRS bölüdüne yakınlığına göre küçükten büyüğe sıralanır ve en yakın aday, A veya B kişisi olarak etiketler. Önerdiğimiz yöntemle ortalama bölüt tanıma oranı %96 ‘ya ulaşmıştı

2-(2H-Indazol-2-yl)-1-phenylethanone

The asymmetric unit of the title compound, C(15)H(12)N(2)O, contains two independent molecules with different conformations, the phenyl ring and indazole mean plane in the two molecules forming dihedral angles of 50.82?(5) and 89.29?(6)°. In the crystal, weak C-H?O and C-H?N hydrogen bonds and C-H?pi interactions consolidate the packing