Halo Structure Of C-19 Via The (p,d) Reaction

We have investigated the heaviest one-neutron halo candidate C-19 nucleus. Few-body model calculations of cross section angular distributions for the C-19(p,d)C-18 reaction, together with the test calculations carried out for the C-17(p,d)C-16 reaction, at a low incident energy are presented for different possible halo-neutron configurations. We show that there is a clear distinction between in particular $\ell_{n}=0$ and $\ell_{n}=2$ halo transfers. The sensitivity of the cross sections to the assumed C-19 single neutron separation energy is discussed.Comment: LaTEX (uses article.sty), 11 pages and 4 figures (in PS format). Please check http://physics.gantep.edu.tr/~nuclear/publications.html for other other studies of Nuclear Physics Group at University of Gaziantep. To be published in Few Body Systems Journal in May 200

Probabilistic facial feature extraction using joint distribution of location and texture information

In this work, we propose a method which can extract critical points on a face using both location and texture information. This new approach can automatically learn feature information from training data. It finds the best facial feature locations by maximizing the joint distribution of location and texture parameters. We first introduce an independence assumption. Then, we improve upon this model by assuming dependence of location parameters but independence of texture parameters.We model combined location parameters with a multivariate Gaussian for computational reasons. The texture parameters are modeled with a Gaussian mixture model. It is shown that the new method outperforms active appearance models for the same experimental setup

The Market Performance of Initial Public Offerings in the Istanbul Stock Exchange

This study examines the long-standing IPO performance in the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) by using new factors such as source of shares (new issue or sale of large shareholders), allocation of shares and dispersion of investors as well as existing factors such as market conditions (hot/cold), underwriters’ reputation, and firm characteristics (firm size, E/P, and B/M ratios) in the period of 1990-2000. Our results differ from the previous studies at least three ways. First, the magnitude of underpricing is significantly lower, while underperformance is higher than those of in other studies. Our strong evidence supports the existence of the underpricing by positive initial excess returns (5.94%) and the long-term underperformance up to three-year holding period (-84.5%) in the ISE. Second, underperformance starts much earlier than in other markets i.e. at the end of first month following the IPO because of myopic behavior of investors seeking short-term returns. Third, the underperformance disappears for IPOs made in a cold market, and those made through the sale of large shareholders. Allocation of shares in an IPO and firm size also impact after-market performance of sharesInitial Public Offerings, Underperformance, Underpricing, Market Efficiency, Emerging Markets

Is there a Future for the Isolated Oriental Beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) Forests in Southern Turkey?

Oriental beech (Fagus orientalis Lipsky) is mainly found in the northern region of Turkey.There is also an approximate 40,000 ha of isolated relict oriental beech forest in southern Turkey. Thisrelict population differs somewhat from the northern distribution in terms of average altitudinaldistribution, health conditions, and reactions to climate change. Beech forest distribution in southernTurkey starts at about 1000 m, contrary to the northern distribution, which begins at about 150-200 m. Insouthern Turkey, the average temperature is higher, and summer drought occurs due to irregular rainfall.Beech trees in the south decay at earlier ages due to their sprout origins and higher temperatures than in thenorth. In recent decades, some part of the beech forests have shed leaves during the summer in response tosevere drought. Therefore, these relict populations are on the verge of extinction under unfavorableconditions

ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORKS PRUNING APPROACH FOR GEODETIC VELOCITY FIELD DETERMINATION

There has been a need for geodetic network densification since the early days oftraditional surveying. In order to densify geodetic networks in a way that willproduce the most effective reference frame improvements, the crustal velocity fieldmust be modelled. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are widely used as functionapproximators in diverse fields of geoinformatics including velocity fielddetermination. Deciding the number of hidden neurons required for theimplementation of an arbitrary function is one of the major problems of ANN thatstill deserves further exploration. Generally, the number of hidden neurons isdecided on the basis of experience. This paper attempts to quantify the significanceof pruning away hidden neurons in ANN architecture for velocity fielddetermination. An initial back propagation artificial neural network (BPANN) with30 hidden neurons is educated by training data and resultant BPANN is applied ontest and validation data. The number of hidden neurons is subsequently decreased,in pairs from 30 to 2, to achieve the best predicting model. These pruned BPANNsare retrained and applied on the test and validation data. Some existing methods forselecting the number of hidden neurons are also used. The results are evaluated interms of the root mean square error (RMSE) over a study area for optimizing thenumber of hidden neurons in estimating densification point velocity by BPANN

EQUALITY - NOW OR NEVER: THE POLITICAL THOUGHT OF ENVER HOXHA

Students of politics know very well that Plato's perfect city in Republic is a political model of philosophico-pedagogical tyranny. For Ranciere, the political thought ofthe thinker of autocratic hierarchy, namely Plato, has much to do with what Ranciere calls the founding gesture of philosophy. In other words, since Plato, asilent majority has always been excluded from the privilege of thought and art and this has helped the construction of the implicit alliance between philosophy and there pressive order of social hierarchy. According to Ranciere, Marx, Sartre,Althusser and Bourdieu, despite their intellectual standing in the Left, are thinkers of inequality and pedagogical privilege. Each assumes, as Plato does, that the pedagogue must think for and educate those who are unable to think for themselves;only then will society change for the better. Yet, the fundamental gesture of philosophy (and even science) not only provides privileges to intellectuals but also continuously postpones the actual realization of achieving equality. If we take equality as an end rather than a presupposition or an axiomatic point of departureit would only prolong the hierarchy between "those who know" and "those who does not know". In this paper, I plan to examine Enver Hoxha's political thought from a Rancierean perspective. I mainly focus on a major concept which unifies Ranciereian thought, that being "equality"

Efficacy of BNT162b2 and CoronaVac in patients diagnosed with COVID-19

This retrospective observational study is aimed to determine the efficacy of BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) and CoronaVac (Sinovac) vaccines against symptomatic or severe disease in COVID-19-diagnosed patients. The secondary aim was to define the differences between vaccinated and un-vaccinated patients in terms of age, comorbidities and course of the disease, and to determine the survival rates. Of the 1463 PCR-positive patients, 55.3 % were vaccinated, and 44.7 % were unvaccinated. While 959 patients had mild-moderate symptoms, 504 patients had severe-critical symptoms and were treated in the intensive care unit. There was a statistically significant difference in the distribution of the type and doses of vaccines between the patient groups (p = 0.021). The rate of receiving 2 doses of Biontech was 18.9 % in the mild-moderate patient group but lower in the severe patient group (12.6 %). The rate of two doses of Sinovac and two doses of Biontech vaccine (four doses of vaccine) was 5 % in the mild-moderate patient group and 1.9 % in the severe patient group. The mortality rates were statistically significantly different (p < 0.001) between the patient groups: 65.3 % in the severe patient group and 1 % in the mild-moderate patient group. The multivariate model showed that the mortality risk of the unvaccinated patients was 1.5 times higher than the vaccinated ones (p = 0.042). In addition to being unvaccinated, advanced age, coronary artery disease (CAD), diabetes mellitus (DM), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chronic kidney disease (CKD), and obesity were found to be associated with higher mortality risk. Besides, the reduction in mortality rate was more evident in individuals vaccinated with at least 2 doses of the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccine than in CoronaVac group