Adaptive Light Control System

An adaptive traffic light system for crossroads is to be developed with the control being the data obtained through fixed cameras attached to the light system. The control itself is to be adaptive as there is no need for collecting data during the time when there is no traffic at all. Thus the problem is to collect data adaptively and control the light system accordingly. The idea, of course, is not to have people wait for unnecessary amount of time along the way, while there is no traffic across roads. Though looks rather reasonable, a very good adaptive strategy and an accompanying algorithm need to be developed. The study group is asked for such an algorithm

Emitter Location Finding using Particle Swarm Optimization

Using several spatially separated receivers, nowadays positioning techniques, which are implemented to determine the location of the transmitter, are often required for several important disciplines such as military, security, medical, and commercial applications. In this study, localization is carried out by particle swarm optimization using time difference of arrival. In order to increase the positioning accuracy, time difference of arrival averaging based two new methods are proposed. Results are compared with classical algorithms and Cramer-Rao lower bound which is the theoretical limit of the estimation error

Seed yield and oil content of some sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) hybrids irrigated at different growth stages

This research was carried out to determine the effects of irrigation applied at different growth stages on yield, yield components and oil content of sunflower during 2002 and 2003. Sunflower cultivars Sanbro, Tarsan-1018 and Ozdemirbey were used as materials in the experiment which was designed in a split plot of randomized complete blocks with three replications. Seven irrigation schedules; I0 = nonirrigated (control), I1 = irrigation at vegetative stage, I2 = irrigation at heading stage, I3 = irrigation at flowering stage, I4 = I1 + I3 (two irrigations) I5 = I1 + I2 + I3 (three irrigations) and I6 = I1 + I2 + I3 + irrigation at milking stage were applied. According to the results of the research, plant height and head diameter by cultivars and irrigations ranged between 106 to 183 cm and 12.5 to 19.3 cm, respectively. Irrigations at all growth stages increased seed yield by 43.1% in 2002 and 77.2% in 2003. The results revealed that three irrigations should be scheduled at vegetative, bud formation and flowering stages. Under severe conditions of water scarcity, it would be better if irrigation is applied at flowering stage.Key words: Sunflower, irrigation, yield, oil ratio

Some chemical and physical properties at physiological maturity and ripening period of kiwifruit (‘Hayward’)

This study was carried out to determine some chemical and physical properties at physiological maturity and ripening period of kiwifruit. The average geometric mean diameter, sphericity, bulk density, porosity, projected area along three axes (X, Y, Z) and colour characteristics (L*, a*, b*) were measured at physiological maturity and ripening period. Total soluble solid content, titratable acidity, pH, total phenolic, total antioxidant activity and total sugar of kiwifruit were also determined. The total antioxidant value was higher at physiological maturity than ripening period.Key words: Kiwifruit (Hayward), chemical properties, physical properties, physiological maturity, ripening period

A comparison of the effects of Methylprednisolone Acetate, Sodium Hyaluronate and Tenoxicam in the treatment of non-reducing disc displacement of the temporomandibular joint

This clinical study aimed to radiologically and clinically compare the effect of intra-articular injection of methylprednisolone, sodium hyaluronate or tenoxicam following arthrocentesis with that of arthrocentesis alone in patients with non-reducing disc displacement. A total of 44 patients radiographically diagnosed with non-reducing disc displacement of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) were randomly divided into four treatment groups, as follows: Group 1, arthrocentesis alone; Group 2, arthrocentesis plus methylprednisolone acetate; Group 3, arthrocentesis plus sodium hyaluronate; Group 4, arthrocentesis plus tenoxicam. Maximum mouth opening (MMO), lateral movement, pain severity and tenderness of TMJ and muscles of mastication on palpation were measured before treatment and at 1 week and 1, 3 and 6 months after treatment. Disc position, presence or absence of disc reduction, level of effusion, joint movement and joint space were also evaluated using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) before treatment and 6 months after treatment. No significant differences in treatment success were found among the four groups. MRI findings did not vary significantly among the groups, but pre- and post-operative MRI findings varied significantly within all four groups (p<0.001). According to the data from this study, it may be concluded that either arthrocentesis alone or arthrocentesis with methylprednisolone acetate or sodium hyaluronate or tenoxicam intra-articular injections are similarly effective and promising methods in the treatment of TMJ with non-reducing disc displacement

Counting molecules with a mobile phone camera using plasmonic enhancement

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Plasmonic field enhancement enables the acquisition of Raman spectra at a single molecule level. Here we investigate the detection of surface enhanced Raman signal using the unmodified image sensor of a smart phone, integrated onto a confocal Raman system. The sensitivity of a contemporary smart phone camera is compared to a photomultiplier and a cooled charge-coupled device. The camera displays a remarkably high sensitivity, enabling the observation of the weak unenhanced Raman scattering signal from a silicon surface, as well as from liquids, such as ethanol. Using high performance wide area plasmonic substrates that enhance the Raman signal 10(6) to 10(7) times, blink events typically associated with single molecule motion, are observed on the smart phone camera. Raman spectra can also be collected on the smart phone by converting the camera into a low resolution spectrometer with the inclusion of a collimator and a dispersive optical element in front of the camera. In this way, spectral content of the blink events can be observed on the plasmonic substrate, in real time, at 30 frames per second

mESAdb: microRNA expression and sequence analysis database

Cataloged from PDF version of article.microRNA expression and sequence analysis database (http://konulab.fen.bilkent.edu.tr/mirna/) (mESAdb) is a regularly updated database for the multivariate analysis of sequences and expression of microRNAs from multiple taxa. mESAdb is modular and has a user interface implemented in PHP and JavaScript and coupled with statistical analysis and visualization packages written for the R language. The database primarily comprises mature microRNA sequences and their target data, along with selected human, mouse and zebrafish expression data sets. mESAdb analysis modules allow (i) mining of microRNA expression data sets for subsets of microRNAs selected manually or by motif; (ii) pair-wise multivariate analysis of expression data sets within and between taxa; and (iii) association of microRNA subsets with annotation databases, HUGE Navigator, KEGG and GO. The use of existing and customized R packages facilitates future addition of data sets and analysis tools. Furthermore, the ability to upload and analyze user-specified data sets makes mESAdb an interactive and expandable analysis tool for microRNA sequence and expression data

Effects of dietary diludine supplementation on growth, proximate composition, muscle and texture structure of rainbow trout juveniles

A feeding trial which lasted for eight weeks was conducted to investigate the effects of diludine, a growth promoter, on feed efficiency, muscle structure and proximate composition of juvenile rainbow trout. Diludine was added at 0.0(D0) 0.2(D1), 0.5(D2) and 1(D3) g kg^-1 to a casein-based diet, and every diet was given to the triplicated groups of juvenile rainbow trout. At the end of experiment, it was determined that a significant improvability existed for both growth and feed utilization in fish fed diets supplemented with diludine (p<0.05). Similarly, different concentrations of diludine affected the densitometric quantification of myofibrillar proteins in fish muscle according to results obtained by Sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The mean value of fiber diameters significantly increased in skeletal muscle with increasing concentrations of diludine. The histological results also showed hypertrophic adipocytes in skeletal muscle of fish fed D2 and D3 diets. The lowest elasticity values were observed in fish fed the control diet while those fed D3 diet had highest elasticity values. On the other hand, no differences were found between fish fed experimental diets in terms of survival rate and all fish exhibited similar proximate composition for protein, lipid, moisture and ash. Consequently, it may be suggested that dietary diludine supplementation up to 1 g kg^-1 concentration in the diets have positive impacts on growth of rainbow trout juveniles and the better growth in the fish fed with diludine supplements could be arise from muscle characteristics, in particular changes in fibres than proximate composition of the muscles