Mechanisms regulating neutrophil responses in immunity, allergy, and autoimmunity

Neutrophil granulocytes, or neutrophils, are the most abundant circulating leukocytes in humans and indispensable for antimicrobial immunity, as exemplified in patients with inborn and acquired defects of neutrophils. Neutrophils were long regarded as the foot soldiers of the immune system, solely destined to execute a set of effector functions against invading pathogens before undergoing apoptosis, the latter of which was ascribed to their short life span. This simplistic understanding of neutrophils has now been revised on the basis of insights gained from the use of mouse models and single-cell high-throughput techniques, revealing tissue- and context-specific roles of neutrophils in guiding immune responses. These studies also demonstrated that neutrophil responses were controlled by sophisticated feedback mechanisms, including directed chemotaxis of neutrophils to tissue-draining lymph nodes resulting in modulation of antimicrobial immunity and inflammation. Moreover, findings in mice and humans showed that neutrophil responses adapted to different deterministic cytokine signals, which controlled their migration and effector function as well as, notably, their biologic clock by affecting the kinetics of their aging. These mechanistic insights have important implications for health and disease in humans, particularly, in allergic diseases, such as atopic dermatitis and allergic asthma bronchiale, as well as in autoinflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Hence, our improved understanding of neutrophils sheds light on novel therapeutic avenues, focusing on molecularly defined biologic agents. Keywords: autoimmunity; autoinflammation; immunodeficiency; infection; inflammation

Analysis and design of scalable software as a service architecture

Ankara : The Department of Computer Engineering and The Graduate School of Engineering and Science of Bilkent University, 2015.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2015.Includes bibliographical references leaves 104-109.Different from traditional enterprise applications that rely on the infrastructure and services provided and controlled within an enterprise, cloud computing is based on services that are hosted on providers over the Internet. Hereby, services are fully managed by the provider, whereas consumers can acquire the required amount of services on demand, use applications without installation and access their personal files through any computer with internet access. Recently, a growing interest in cloud computing can be observed thanks to the significant developments in virtualization and distributed computing, as well as improved access to high-speed Internet and the need for economical optimization of resources. An important category of cloud computing is the software as a service domain in which software applications are provided over the cloud. In general when describing SaaS, no specific application architecture is prescribed but rather the general components and structure is defined. Based on the provided reference SaaS architecture different application SaaS architectures can be derived each of which will typically perform differently with respect to different quality factors. An important quality factor in designing SaaS architectures is scalability. Scalability is the ability of a system to handle a growing amount of work in a capable manner or its ability to be enlarged to accommodate that growth. In this thesis we provide a systematic modeling and design approach for designing scalable SaaS architectures. To identify the aspects that impact the scalability of SaaS based systems we have conducted a systematic literature review in which we have identified and analyzed the relevant primary studies that discuss scalability of SaaS systems. Our study has yielded the aspects that need to be considered when designing scalable systems. Our research has continued in two subsequent directions. Firstly, we have defined a UML profile for supporting the modeling of scalable SaaS architectures. The profile has been defined in accordance with the existing practices on defining and documenting profiles. Secondly, we provide the socalled architecture design perspective for designing scalable SaaS systems. Architectural Perspectives are a collection of activities, tactics and guidelines to modify a set of existing views, to document and analyze quality properties. Architectural perspectives as such are basically guidelines that work on multiple views together. So far architecture perspectives have been defined for several quality factors such as for performance, reuse and security. However, an architecture perspective dedicated for designing scalable SaaS systems has not been defined explicitly. The architecture perspective that we have defined considers the scalability aspects derived from the systematic literature review as well as the architectural design tactics that represent important proved design rules and practices. Further, the architecture perspective adopts the UML profile for scalability that we have defined. The scalability perspective is illustrated for the design of a SaaS architecture for a real industrial case study.Özcan, OnurM.S

Assessing Software Processes over a New Generic Software Process Assessment Tool

Performing process improvement to deliver qualified products with the expected cost on time has been a requirement for organizations targeting to be successful in the software market. Software organizations usually perform process improvement based on well-known process assessment frameworks such as CMMI and ISO/IEC 15504. A number of derivatives of CMMI and ISO/IEC 15504 have been developed and they are being updated. As a result of this, the software process assessment tool based on them needs to be updated. Process assessment requires judgment and there is an unavoidable manual work. However, there are also opportunities for assessment automation. Therefore, there is a need for a generic software process assessment tool to define process assessment models and facilitate assessment. The existing tools do not meet the expected features of a software process assessment tool completely, as they have generally been developed for single process assessment models. In this study, we present GSPA, a generic software process assessment tool, which has been developed to support all structured process assessment models with its generic framework, facilitate assessment, support parallel assessment and present the reports in a well-structured way to the assessors. A multiple case study has been conducted to measure the sufficiency and the contributions of the tool

Fiyat Artış Hızının Tüketicilerin Fiyat Algısı, Panik Satın Alma, Stoklama Niyeti ve Düşük Fiyat Bekleme Üzerine Etkisi

Pazarlama literatüründe fiyat indirimleri üzerine çok sayıda araştırma olmasına rağmen, fiyat artışlarının etkisini araştırmak için sınırlı sayıda çalışma yapılmıştır. Özellikle fiyat artış hızının tüketici davranışları üzerindeki etkisine yönelik çalışmalara ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır. Bu çalışma, fiyat artış hızının, fiyat algısı, panik satın alma davranışı, stoklama niyeti ve düşük fiyat bekleme üzerindeki etkisini incelemeyi amaçlamaktadır. Bu doğrultuda, farklı fiyat artış hızlarına sahip ürün görsellerini içeren iki senaryo 204 tüketiciden oluşan iki farklı katılımcı grubuna gösterilmiş ve araştırma değişkenlerini ölçmek amacıyla anketler uygulanmıştır. Araştırmada elde edilen verilere uygulanan analiz sonuçları, incelenen gruplar arasında düşük fiyat beklentisi, stoklama niyeti ve fiyat algısı açısından istatistiksel olarak anlamlı farklılıklar olduğunu göstermiştir. Araştırmanın sonucunda hem fiyatlandırma ile ilgilenen uygulayıcılar hem de pazarlama alanında çalışan araştırmacılar için çıkarımlarda bulunulmuştur

Path Tracking and Connection Mechanism of a Reconfigurable, Foldable, Legged, and Miniature Robot

This work introduces the reconfigurable, foldable, legged, and miniature robot (REMIRO), a palm-size modular robot with compliant c-shaped legs. The robot’s body modules are made by folding acetate sheets. The legs connected to these modules are made of Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) using molding. The backbone modules are made of Thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) using 3D printing. In this study, we propose a path tracking algorithm for our robot that enables our modules to move from a random initial location to the pose required to lock with another module. We also design and manufacture backbones with embedded permanent magnets to allow connection between modules. We also present a kinematic model of our robot utilizing c-shaped leg kinematics, predicting the forward differential kinematics of the robot, which is then used to test the path tracking algorithm. Our experiments show that the proposed path tracking algorithm moves our robot to the desired location with an average positioning error of 5mm and an average orientation error of 22°, which are small enough to permit docking between modules

Bedrock Depth Calculation of Çanakkale (Turkey) Basin Using Rayleigh Ellipticity and Microgravity Survey

It is a well-known fact that the local ground effect plays an important role in the damage to structures during earthquakes. In order to define the soil-structure interaction correctly, the geometry of the tight and loose soil layers in the soil should be well known. In addition, the impedance contrast due to local ground effects can be deeper than the first 30 m, which is accepted as the engineering depth, and in this case, the Vs,30 parameter is disabled. For this reason, the location of engineering bedrock and seismic bedrock gains importance. The variation of shear wave velocity with depth is a key parameter for seismic field effect estimation. In addition, the separation of low-density layers close to the surface and higher-density bedrock can be easily done by the gravity method. Bedrock/seismic foundation levels were determined by using these two methods together for Çanakkale soils, which are known to have thick alluvial thickness and liquefaction problems. Microgravity measurements were made at 100 points and the anomalies obtained were modelled in three dimensions. In light of the data obtained from this study, it has been determined that the thickness of the loose basin unit in the study area is in the range of about 50-300 m. Ambient vibration was recorded with the help of a velocity seismometer at 146 points, and S velocity (Vs) profiles were obtained by using the inversion of the observed ellipticity curve. In addition, the velocity-depth change rate structure of the basin is defined depending on the Vs velocities on the 2D gravity model made along the two profiles that cut the basin in N-S and E-W directions. Along these profiles, the frequency range has been determined as 0.8-1.3 Hz in the deep parts of the Basin and 1.5-11.0 Hz in the shallow parts

Treatment of Otomycosis in Ears with Tympanic Membrane Perforation is Easier with Paper Patch

Objective:To assess the effectiveness of paper patch closure of tympanic membrane perforation in patients with otomycosis and tympanic membrane perforation.Methods:Fifty-six otomycosis patients with central tympanic membrane perforations were included in the study. Patients were randomized into two groups as patched (PG) and non-patched (NPG) groups. In both groups, Castellani’s solution was applied to the external auditory canal. In PG patients, the perforated tympanic membrane was covered with carbon paper patch soaked in Castellani’s solution to reduce ear canal humidity and to prevent fungi from passing from the ear canal to the middle ear mucosa. Paper patch was not used in NPG patients.Results:There were statistically significant differences between the two groups in terms of severity scores in the first, second, third, fourth and sixth weeks of admission (p=0.004, p=0.018, p=0.001, p=0.009, and p<0.001, respectively). Time to complete recovery was statistically shorter in PG patients (p<0.001). Disease recurrence was statistically less among PG patients compared to NPG patients (p=0.025).Conclusion:Closing of perforation with paper patch and topical application of Castellani’s solution was found to be an effective and safe method. The method eliminated otomycosis in a shorter period and reduced recurrence rate in patients with eardrum perforation

Endoscopic Sphenopalatine Artery Ligation in Posterior Epistaxis: Retrospective Analysis of 30 Patients

Objective: Although posterior epistaxis is rarely seen, it is an important medical problem that both decreases the quality of life of the patient and causes difficulties in the management for otorhinolaryngologists. In this study, we aimed to present the results of 30 patients who underwent transnasal endoscopic sphenopalatine artery ligation (TESPAL) for posterior epistaxis in our department.Methods: The records of 30 patients who underwent TESPAL from January 2014 to April 2016 were analyzed retrospectively, and the relationship between perioperative factors and need for revision surgery was assessed.Results: The success rate of TESPAL in posterior epistaxis was 90%. There was no relationship between surgical failure and antiaggregant use (p=0.224), anticoagulant use (p=0.534), hypertension (p=0.564), previous nasal surgery (p=0.279), and bilateral TESPAL application (p=0.279). TESPAL was seen to be effective in cases with Osler–Weber–Rendu disease, pregnancy, and uncontrollable epistaxis after rhinoplasty surgery. Mortality was seen in one of our patients not related to endoscopic ligation in the follow-up period.Conclusion: TESPAL is an effective method in the treatment of posterior epistaxis. Hypertension, antiaggregant or anticoagulant use, bilateral sphenopalatine artery ligation, and previous nasal surgery do not seem to be factors leading to surgical failure

Evaluation of temperature changes in the pulp chamber during polymerization of pulp capping materials

Polymerization of resin-based materials leads to temperature rise, caused by the exothermic nature of the reaction and energy absorbed during polymerization. This temperature rise is influenced by intensity of light, composition of resins, and type of light source. This study evaluated thermal insulating properties of four photo-polymerizing pulp-capping agents in primary and permanent teeth. Roots of 80 primary and permanent teeth were removed. Class-I cavities were prepared on the occlusal surfaces of teeth. Materials used were TheraCal LC, Biner LC, ACTIVA BioACTIVE, and Calciplus LC and light sources were 3 M-Elipar and VALO LED. Temperature rise was measured using a J-type thermocouple. Data were statistically evaluated using ANOVA and Tukey`s tests (p = 0.05). VALO LED exhibited significantly lower temperature rise in all groups and temperature rise in primary teeth was significantly higher with all experimental materials (p < 0.05). The highest temperature change was observed in the Biner LC group (3.82 ± 0.58) and the lowest change in the Activa-BioACTIVE group (1.78 ± 0.34). The VALO LED light source caused a significantly lower increase in pulpal temperature compared with the 3 M-Elipar source. All tested materials and light sources maintained pulpal temperature under safe limits, with temperature increases not exceeding 5.5 °C

False-Positive Laryngeal FDG Uptake During PET/CT Imaging: Reinke’s Edema

Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) is frequently used for diagnosing, staging, and following-up various malignancy types because it provides information on the site and metabolic activity of the tumor. Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake by the normal laryngeal tissue is symmetric and low, whereas that under some non-malignant conditions of the larynx, such as vocal cord paralysis and Teflon granuloma, is asymmetrically increased. We reported the first case of histologically proven Reinke’s edema causing false-positive laryngeal FDG uptake on PET/CT imaging. A clinician must be aware of these rare benign lesions in the case of increased FDG uptake, and histopathological investigation is mandatory to rule out malignancy for suspicious cases