CROSS-SECTORAL GOVERNANCE: EXAMINING THE FLORIDA INTEGRATED NETWORK FOR DATA EXCHANGE AND RETRIEVAL (FINDER)

Complicated public problems have forced public agencies to establish partnerships with different organizations from public, private, and non-profit sectors. Law enforcement agencies have understood that it is not possible to cope with those issues alone anymore and that cooperation is needed because criminals and terrorists operate across bureaucratic and jurisdictional boundaries. In this context, information sharing is one of the most important components of this cooperation. For this purpose, the law enforcement agencies in the state of Florida and University of Central Florida (UCF) have engaged in a partnership known as Florida Integrated Network for Data Exchange and Retrieval (FINDER) to create a statewide data sharing system to combine fragmented and disconnected local databases. In this article, highly successful partnership between Florida law enforcement agencies and UCF was examined as an example of cross-sectoral partnership. The study results suggest that FINDER is a significant response to the historical problem of the lack of information sharing among law enforcement agencies. Interorganizational networks may facilitate development of social networks among staff from different agencies by increasing interactions. In addition, keeping the cost of network operation and membership low is important to build and expand the network. Furthermore, organizations should voluntarily participate in network without any government coercion. According to the study results, systematic effectiveness evaluation is essential to identify to what extent the system achieves its predetermined goals and produce outcomes. Finally, it is important to benefit from the dissemination of the experiences of FINDER across the country

An Experimental Factor Analysis Study Using SAW and TOPSIS to Select and Rank Organic Agriculture Cities in Turkey

The agriculture sector supports Turkey’s GDP portfolio economically and helps establish a sustainable labor force. Turkey has certain competitive advantages in terms of the organic production of agricultural goods like figs and hazelnuts. We conduct a factor analysis using Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) andTechnique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) methods combined with a 3-level set (export volume, export value, and adequacy rate) to rank 32 candidate cities of Turkey where organic agriculture activities should be given more emphasis to support overall production and export rates. 18 different sets of importance values were used for this purpose and their combinatorial effects on candidate cities were analyzed. The factor analysis results show that the cities Izmir, Aydin, Adiyaman, Gaziantep, Agri, Mus, and Van have the highest potentials among all Turkish cities in bothmethods, while Sanliurfa also shows high potential for organic agriculture in the TOPSIS method

WASH in Schools Empowers Girls' Education: Proceedings of the Menstrual Hygiene Management in Schools Virtual Conference 2013

This publication brings together the key elements of the 16 presentations made at the Second Annual Virtual MHM in WinS Conference at UNICEF Headquarters in New York City on 21 November 2013. Building on recommendations from the MHM 2012 virtual conference, the 2013 conference focused on the research tools and instruments being used to explore MHM barriers and practices and to evaluate the interventions being trialed or implemented in various contexts

Hybrid 3D Localization for Visible Light Communication Systems

In this study, we investigate hybrid utilization of angle-of-arrival (AOA) and received signal strength (RSS) information in visible light communication (VLC) systems for 3D localization. We show that AOA-based localization method allows the receiver to locate itself via a least squares estimator by exploiting the directionality of light-emitting diodes (LEDs). We then prove that when the RSS information is taken into account, the positioning accuracy of AOA-based localization can be improved further using a weighted least squares solution. On the other hand, when the radiation patterns of LEDs are explicitly considered in the estimation, RSS-based localization yields highly accurate results. In order to deal with the system of nonlinear equations for RSS-based localization, we develop an analytical learning rule based on the Newton-Raphson method. The non-convex structure is addressed by initializing the learning rule based on 1) location estimates, and 2) a newly developed method, which we refer as random report and cluster algorithm. As a benchmark, we also derive analytical expression of the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB) for RSS-based localization, which captures any deployment scenario positioning in 3D geometry. Finally, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed solutions for a wide range of LED characteristics and orientations through extensive computer simulations.Comment: Submitted to IEEE/OSA Journal of Lightwave Technology (10 pages, 14 figures

Optimization of Model Predictive Control Weights for Control of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor by Using the Multi Objective Bees Algorithm

In this study, the model predictive control (MPC) method was used within the scope of the control of the permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). The strongest aspect of the MPC, the ability to control multiple components with a single function, is also one of the most difficult parts of its design. The fact that each component of the function has different effects requires assigning different weight coefficients to these components. In this study, the Bees Algorithm (BA) is used to determine the weights. Using the multi-objective function in BA, it has been tried to determine the weights that reduce the current values together with the speed error. Three different PI controllers have been designed to compare the MPC method. The coefficients of one of these are tuned with BA. Good Gain Method and Tyreus-Luyben Method were used in the other two. As a result of experimental studies, it has been observed that MPC can control PMSM more smoothly and accurately than PI controllers, with weights optimized with BA. With MPC, PMSM has been controlled with 15% settling time than other controllers and also with no overshoot

Complex Factorization by Chebysev Polynomials

Let $\left \{ a_{i}\right \}, \left \{ b_{i}\right \}$ be real numbers for $0\leqslant i\leqslant r-1$, and define a \textit{$r$-periodic sequence}$\left\{v_{n}\right \}$ with initial conditions $v_{0}$, $v_{1}$ and recurrences $v_{n}=a_{t}v_{n-1}+b_{t}v_{n-2}$ where $n \equiv t \left( \text{mod } r\right)$ ($n\geqslant 2$).In this paper, by aid of Chebyshev polynomials, we introduce a new method to obtain the complex factorization ofthe sequence $\left\{v_{n}\right \}$ so that we extend some recentresults and solve some open problems. Also, we provide new results by obtainingthe binomial sum for the sequence $\left\{v_{n}\right \}$ by using Chebyshev polynomials

Expression of Endocan in Tissue Samples from Prostate Adenocarcinoma and Prostate Hyperplasia: A Comparative Retrospective Study

Purpose: In this study, we aimed to determine whether there is a significant difference in endocan expression levels between prostate adenocarcinoma and prostate hyperplasia tissues by using an immunohistochemical method. Materials and Methods: All 51 patients, who were getting treatment for the last 5 years, participated in the study. 31 of 51 patients underwent transrectal sonography (TRUSG)-assisted prostate biopsy because of prostate adenocarcinoma as diagnosed with elevated PSA levels and histopathological examination. The remaining 20 patients comprised the control group. The control group included patients with benign prostate hyperplasia based on pathological examination. Results: It was found that there was strong positive epithelial staining in 74.2% of patients with prostate cancer while in 5% of controls, indicating a statistically significant difference (P < .001). It was also found that the rate of strong positive endothelial staining was 77.4% in the patient group whereas 5% in the control group (P < .001). Also, the rate of strong positive stromal staining was 64.5% in the patient group while 5% in the control group (P < .001). Conclusion: We found that tissue endocan expression level was statistically significantly higher in patients with prostate cancer compared to those with benign prostate hyperplasia by using an immunohistochemical method

The effects of pregnancy on the sexual life of Turkish women

Aim: To investigate the effects of pregnancy on the sexual life of Turkish women Materials and Methods: One thousand twenty six pregnant women were included in the study. The Libido Scoring System, which is a questionnaire consisting of four questions about the frequency of intercourse, the partner initiating the intercourse, orgasm and masturbation status of the pregnant women, was completed by all patients. Both pre-pregnancy and pregnancy sexuality was evaluated independently using this scale. Results: The frequency of sexual intercourse during pregnancy significantly decreased from 3.07/week to 2.40/week (p<0.05). The masturbation rate during pregnancy was significantly lower than the pre-pregnancy period (3.6% vs 4.9 %, p<0.001). The percentage of pregnant women who never had an orgasm was significantly higher compared to the pre-pregnant period (21.7 % vs 10.8 %, p<0.01). The rates of initiation of sexual intercourse in the pre-pregnancy period by men and by women were 94.5% (970/1026) and 5.3% (54/1026) respectively. In pregnancy period the rates of initiation of sexual intercourse by man and woman were 93.4% (904/968) and 6.6% (64/968) respectively (p=0.0001). The mean libido scores during pregnancy were statistically lower than the pre-pregnancy period (6.38±0.04 vs 7.31±0.04, p<0.001). Conclusion: Pregnancy has a negative effect on the sexual life of women, but more prospective studies are required to clarify the mechanisms