333 research outputs found
Evaluation of linguistic and prosodic features for detection of Alzheimer’s disease in Turkish conversational speech
No full textDue to copyright restrictions, the access to the full text of this article is only available via subscription.Automatic diagnosis and monitoring of Alzheimer’s disease can have a significant impact on society as well as the well-being of patients. The part of the brain cortex that processes language abilities is one of the earliest parts to be affected by the disease. Therefore, detection of Alzheimer’s disease using speech-based features is gaining increasing attention. Here, we investigated an extensive set of features based on speech prosody as well as linguistic features derived from transcriptions of Turkish conversations with subjects with and without Alzheimer’s disease. Unlike most standardized tests that focus on memory recall or structured conversations, spontaneous unstructured conversations are conducted with the subjects in informal settings. Age-, education-, and gender-controlled experiments are performed to eliminate the effects of those three variables. Experimental results show that the proposed features extracted from the speech signal can be used to discriminate between the control group and the patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Prosodic features performed significantly better than the linguistic features. Classification accuracy over 80% was obtained with three of the prosodic features, but experiments with feature fusion did not further improve the classification performance
The soul of the White Muslim: Race, empire and Africa in Turkey
No full textThis dissertation explores the articulation of race and religion with global capitalism in the context of Turkey’s contemporary relations with Africa south of the Sahara under the neoliberal authoritarian regime of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). In contrast to the political science and international relations literatures on South-South relations, this anthropological research explores how the transnational political, economic and religious entanglements in the Global South are racially structured. More specifically, it asks how and why the recent orientation towards Africa south of the Sahara has intertwined with a racial orientation towards whiteness, an affective orientation towards the global umma (community of believers), and a temporal orientation towards the Ottoman imperial past.
While whiteness has historically been associated with Western modernity and state secularism in Turkey, the Islamist critics of these twin ideological projects self-identified with blackness as a metaphor of victimization under the secularist regime. This dissertation argues that Africa provides a racial terrain for the Black Turk to reinvent himself as White Muslim in alignment with the consolidation of the Islamists’ hegemony over the last decades. I therefore explore Turkey’s recent transnational entanglements in Africa as a spatial fix, not only for the crises of capitalism, but equally for the contradictions of racial formations on a national scale.
My analysis of the construction of Muslim whiteness contributes to global critical race theory by showing how local racial formations articulate with global white supremacy in inventive ways. Furthermore, this analysis makes a critical contribution to the scholarship on the racialization of Muslims by thinking beyond the post 9/11 context and taking into consideration racial formations within the Muslim world.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2022-12-01The student, Ezgi Guner, accepted the attached license on 2020-12-02 at 10:16.The student, Ezgi Guner, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2020-12-02 at 10:17.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2020-12-07 at 08:24.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #16030 on 2021-03-04 at 16:33:14Made available in DSpace on 2021-03-05T21:47:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2
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SPINOR REPRESENTATIONS OF PAFORS IN E3
No full textIn this paper, we introduce the spinor representations of PAFORS for the trajectories endowed with PAFORS on regular surfaces of Euclidean 3-space E-3. We find the spinor equations of PAFORS vectors. Moreover, we obtain the relations between spinor representations of PAFORS and Darboux frame. Then, we give some geometric interpretations and results concerned with this relationship.Acknowledgments: : The authors would like to thank editors and anonymous referees for their valuable comments and careful reading. We would like to express our endless respect and thanks to our deceased co-author Mehmet Guner for all his contributions to science, education, and his students.
A 48-month randomized controlled trial of caries prevention effect of a one-time application of glass ionomer sealant versus resin sealant
No full textThe aim of this study was to compare the caries prevention effectiveness, retention rates and the level of fluoride of saliva of a glass-ionomer sealant (GIS) with that of a resin-based sealant (RS). Eighty GIS and 80RS were placed on the first permanent molars in 40 children aged 7-10 years. Children were re-examined at 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 months after the procedure. Saliva samples were collected before the sealant was applied and again at each appointment, and fluoride levels were measured. After 48 months, occlusal caries were seen in 4 and 12 teeth in GIS and RS groups respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the fluoride levels of saliva between baseline and up to 12th month in GIS group. GISs presented effective prevention of caries development, even though the failure rate is higher when compared to the RSs. An increased salivary fluoride level due to GISs might be an additive effect on the prevention of dental caries
Dental Fluorosis and Catalase Immunoreactivity of the Brain Tissues in Rats Exposed to High Fluoride Pre- and Postnatally
No full textThis study evaluated dental fluorosis of the incisors and immunoreactivity in the brain tissues of rats given chronic fluoride doses pre- and postnatally. Female rats were given drinking water with 0, 30 or 100 ppm fluoride ad libitum throughout gestation and the nursing period. In addition, 63 male offspring were treated with the same water regimens as the mothers after weaning and were followed for 1, 3 or 5 months. The upper and lower incisors were collected, and all teeth were examined under a stereomicroscope and scored by two blinded examiners using a modified rodent enamel fluorosis index. Cortical, hippocampal and cerebellar brain samples were evaluated morphologically and immunohistochemically. All fluoride-treated pups were born with low body weight (p = 0.001). All animals from the fluoride groups had enamel fluorosis with defects of various degrees. The increase in the dental fluorosis scores in the fluoride treatment groups was significant (p < 0.01). The catalase immunoreactivity in the 30- and 100-ppm fluoride groups was significantly higher than that in the controls after 1, 3 and 5 months (p < 0.001). In conclusion, this study showed that rats with dental fluorosis had catalase immunoreactivity in the brain tissues, which may reflect the neurobehavioral toxicity of fluoride
Two-fold excess of fluoride in the drinking water has no obvious health effects other than dental fluorosis
No full textBackground. There is concern that fluorides in the drinking water is hazardous to health. Methods: We conducted an observational study in the village of Hanliyenice (population 280), Turkey, which has 2.5 times higher than optimal levels of fluoride in the drinking water and evaluated all children 7-13 years of age (N = 30). We collected information on dental decay, fluorosis, daily water consumption and diet, child history and her family history of cancer, cardiovascular risks/diseases, and asthma, and obtained a blood sample for extraction of genomic DNA. We genotyped ten single nucleotide polymorphisms in aquaporins. Results: As expected, a high number of children were dental caries free (19 out of 30) and had fluorosis (25 out of 30). Family history of cancer, cardiovascular events, and asthma was not different from the expected figures based on Turkey. One variant just upstream of AQP5 was associated with being fluorosis free. (G allele of AQP5 rs296763, p = 6.0E(-6)). Conclusions: Exposure to levels of fluoride twice as high than the optimum in the drinking water increases the prevalence of fluorosis, dramatically decreases dental caries, and does not increase the risk of cancer, cardiovascular events, and asthma
Macroeconomic Implications of Size-Dependent Policies
No full textGovernment policies that impose restrictions on the size of large establishments or firms, or promote small ones, are widespread across countries. In this paper, we develop a framework to systematically study policies of this class. We study a simple growth model with an endogenous size distribution of production units. We parameterize this model to account for the size distribution of establishments and for the large share of employment in large establishments. Then, we ask: quantitatively, how costly are policies that distort the size of production units? What is the impact of these policies on productivity measures, the equilibrium number of establishments and their size distribution? We find that these effects are potentially large: policies that reduce the average size of establishments by 20% lead to reductions in output and output per establishment up to 8.1% and 25.6% respectively, as well as large increases in the number of establishments (23.5%). (Copyright: Elsevier)Size distortions; Establishment size; Productivity differences
Novel Applications of Eutectic Freeze Crystallization
No full textDuring the last decades, the consumption of raw materials and energy in the world has faced a tremendous increase with a corresponding industrial waste volume increases, which treatment poses serious challenges. From an economical point of view, the waste has values as it contains valuable matters. Disposal of these streams without any further treatment is the environmentally unacceptable. The foreseeable upcoming depletion of metals, pure water and other raw materials forces us to find efficient technologies to recover those, and this thesis aims to investigate novel applications of a promising crystallization technology, Eutectic Freeze Crystallization (EFC) for the energy friendly (up to 90 % lower energy costs compared to evaporation) complete recovery of salt and fresh water from industrial streams. EFC operates around the eutectic temperature and composition of an aqueous solution and recovers the dissolved salts and fresh water from almost all aqueous salt or acid containing process stream, producing extremely pure ice and pure salts. The low operating temperature promotes safe and corrosion-free operation. Applications are possible in food, pharmaceutical, petrochemical and fertilizer industries etc. An introduction and the scope of this thesis are given in Chapter 1. This work focusses on the industrial application of EFC in (bio-)chemical and oil and gas industries. HrICP-MS is used as an analytical tool to assess the purity obtained using EFC. In Chapter 2, EFC was performed for an NiSO4 containing industrial stream from 1 liter scale batch set-up in the laboratory to an industrial scale continuous pilot plant (200 liter) at the production location of nickel sulfate. The heat transfer rate from the crystallizer could be maintained at 9 kW/m2 with ice and nickel sulfate production rates of 16 and 4 kg/h respectively. Since the major impurity in the starting solution is sodium, the quaternary point and the two eutectic solubility lines for the Na2SO4-NiSO4-H2O ternary system were also experimentally determined to investigate the limitations of EFC. Recrystallization of NiSO4?7H2O from produced with EFC into the NiSO4?6H2O is described in Chapter 3, and an effort of trace element analysis was performed by hrICP-MS. Within the range of 40 °C to 90 °C an optimal i.e. most pure product was found at 50 °C. Recrystallization mother liquor was recycled to assess the performance in industrial full continuous operation. It was found that the recrystallization occurs via the solution, allowing a redistribution of impurities. The results from hrICP-MS were used to calculate partition coefficients and distribution coefficients for impurity uptake in the NiSO4 crystals. Efforts to develop and perform elemental analysis of traces in the nickel sulfate system using hrICP-MS are presented in Chapter 4. First, contaminations in blanks and standard solution were assessed, and calibration curves were measured. Second, observed memory effects (i.e. the signal is influenced by the signal of the preceding sample or standard) were reduced by extensive flushing. Third, a strong decrease on the sensitivity during one single run consisting of blanks, samples and standard solutions was observed, and it was surprisingly found that this effect could not be eliminated by using internal standards. By correction of the signal decline from standard curves at different stages within one run, and by performing three runs reliable data could be collected. Chapter 5 describes how saline water from Kuwait oil production and valuable products were recovered by EFC in 1 liter batch experiment. Inclusions of mother liquor in the final ice product are below 0.05 wt%, and in NaCl?2H2O below 0.1 wt%. Then EFC was scaled up to batch 10 liter scraped wall crystallizer. A maximum ?T of 3.5 °C between the cooling liquid and the NaCl?2H2O/ice slurry could be maintained. The quality of final salt and ice products have a good reproducibility from 1 liter to 10 liter. Recrystallization were performed from NaCl?2H2O into NaCl as a further purification step , yielding more pure NaCl. Simulated shale gas water was treated with EFC (Chapter 6), and the ice products were deemed sufficiently pure to be reused in fracking fluid. By stepwise cooling down in a batch EFC process, the system of the solution with the eutectic points of BaCl2, NaCl and SrCl2 was characterized. At the end of the batch sequence the solution will consist of calcium chloride with minor impurities. The batch process was scaled up in a 200 liter scraped wall crystallizer, and a heat transfer rate of 4 kW/m2 over the heat exchangers could be maintained without excessive scaling inside the crystallizer. In Chapter 7, an industrial problem of removing Mg from hydrated nickel sulfates using state-of-the-art molecular simulations was investigated. Periodic Density Functional Theory (DFT) and cluster DFT calculations are used to study the crystal structures and phase stability of the hexahydrated and heptahydrated Ni and Mg sulfates and their mixed phases. The calculated lattice parameters of MSO4(H2O)n (M=Ni, Mg; n=6,7) crystals are in good agreement with available experimental data. The relative energy differences of the mixed phase for both hexahydrated and heptahydrated Ni/Mg sulfates obtained from both the periodic and cluster DFT calculations are generally less than kT (25.8 meV, T = 300 K), indicating that a continuous solid solution is formed.BiotechnologyApplied Science
Fully renormalized quasi-particle random phase approximation, spurious states and ground state correlations
No full textAn approach, called fully renormalized QRPA (FR-QRPA), which takes into account the Pauli principle for the ground state correlations (GSC) and fulfills the Ikeda sum rule has recently been developed. Here a new rotational invariant model of the V states is formulated within the FR-QRPA and deformed nuclei Nd-150, (SM)-S-154 and Er-168 are studied. Two different Hamiltonians are used to describe the low-lying excited states (the famous scissors mode). One Hamiltonian is constructed to be rotational invariant and the spurious rotational state is separated by moving its energy to zero. The second Hamiltonian mixes the spurious rotational state with different vibrational states having the same quantum numbers. The GSC measured by the number of quasiparticles in the ground state are studied for the Hamiltonians within the QRPA, R-QRPA and FR-QRPA approaches. The present investigation demonstrates an advantage of the FR-QRPA over the other approaches. Within the rotational invariant FR-QRPA the GSC are stronger than within the R-QRPA by about 20%. The spurious rotational state in the rotational invariant case contributes within the FR-QRPA more than 50% to the total number of quasiparticles in the ground state of the nuclei in question.https://doi.org/10.1088/0954-3899/30/9/02
Electric dipole strength distribution below the E1 giant resonance in N=82 nuclei
No full textIn this study quasiparticle random-phase approximation with the translational invariant Hamiltonian using deformed mean field potential has been conducted to describe electric dipole excitations in Xe-136, Ba-138, Ce-140, Nd-142, Sm-144 and Gd-146 isotones. The distribution of the calculated E1 strength shows a resonance like structure at energies between 6-8 MeV exhausting up to 1% of the isovector electric dipole Energy Weighted Sum Rule and in some aspects nicely confirms the experimental data. It has been shown that the main part of E1 strength, observed below the threshold in these nuclei may be interpreted as main fragments of the Pygmy Dipole resonance. The agreement between calculated mean excitation energies as well as summed B(E1) value of the 1-excitations and the available experimental data is quite good. The calculations indicate the presence of a few prominent positive parity 1(+) States in heavy N = 82 isotones in the energy interval 6-8 MeV which shows not all dipole excitations were of electric character in this energy range
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