33 research outputs found
A precise scan matching based localization method for an autonomously guided vehicle in smart factories
No full textPrecise localization and autonomous docking at industrial standards are major issues to be handled in order to establish smart factories having end-user oriented production focus and to operate fully autonomous vehicles in the logistics of such factories. Therefore, in this paper, a precise localization algorithm utilizing the affine iterative closest point (ICP) method is proposed for logistic applications in manufacturing systems. In classical ICP, the least-squares criterion and the point-to-point metric are employed. In this study, however, correlation entropy (correntropy) criterion is used in order to provide robustness against noise and/or outliers. In addition, affine transformation is exploited to increase the flexibility of the developed algorithm and the point-to-line metric is put into use to perform pose estimation faster. The developed algorithm is suitable for logistic applications in smart factories, which involves reaching a target at industrial standards. On the other hand, this method can also be employed in some outdoor applications, for example, parking problems of autonomous vehicles. The improvements and performance gains achieved using this method are demonstrated in nine separate real-world cases. In the field tests, ITU-AGV, a robot operating system (ROS)-enabled differential drive mobile robotic platform, is deployed. The achieved results prove that it is possible to dock a vehicle used in logistics to a target with sub-centimeter precision
Wildfire Resilient Village of the Future
No full textIn the summer of 2021, an exceptional number of 270 wildfires took place among the entire Turkish coast. Multiple villages have been destroyed. Villagers lost their loved ones, houses and income sources. According to climate scientists, the wildfires will occur more often due to hotter summers. This emerges the question on how destroyed villages in wildfire risk areas will be rebuilt in a new wildfire resilient way, involving local building skills and knowledge in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. Kalemler village is chosen as the research and design area, because it is one of the most damaged villages and representative for other burned villages in the Mediterranean region. The current rebuilding plans do not involve wildfire resiliency and there is no worldwide research on how to rebuild villages in a wildfire resilient way. Looking at Turkish villages on the national scale, Turks always historically provided themselves with self-built dwellings made of earth, stone or wood. This shows the opportunity to reintroduce earth as a building material in an innovative way, since earth is a directly available and non-combustible building material. Also, it is free when excavated on site, endlessly recyclable and has many other building benefits. Rammed earth is implemented as the new earth construction method for the village. It contributes on the scales of community and building construction as the research outcome on how innovation of vernacular façade earth construction methods could contribute to a wildfire resilient rebuilding strategy for burned down villages in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. This project results in Kalemler as the wildfire resilient village of the future, tackled on five scales from the wildfire resilient rebuilding strategy: community, village, building typology, construction and landscape. This translates into a wildfire resilient village rebuilding plan, including a community centre, an independently working water and energy collection and distribution system. This system consist of a water tower, infrastructure points and walkable village walls. Furthermore, it translates into a growing wildfire resilient village house design and building guidelines for local self-builders. The growing village house typologies take the regional earthquake risk into account as well. All in all, this project involves the locals, respects local culture, harvests local materials, innovates local skills and knowledge on self-building with earth, and combines earth construction with innovative wildfire resilient solutions. Kalemler becomes a fusion village, where tradition meets innovation.Architectural EngineeringArchitecture, Urbanism and Building Science
Sağlık yönetiminde nitel araştırmaların gelişimi üzerine bir araştırma
No full textIt is a known fact that qualitative research has increased numerically in the scientific literature. In this context, our study aims to reveal the direction in which scientific studies in the field of health management are developing. Articles were accessed by searching the keywords "health management", "health management", "hospital management" and "qualitative research" in the Web of Science (WOS) database. The articles obtained as a result of the WOS research were analyzed with the R-based Biblioshiny program. Tableau program was used for visualizations. It is seen that the qualitative studies examined have shown an increasing trend, especially since 2007. According to the annual average number of citations, the most cited author was Willis-Shattuck (2008), and the least cited author was Kristensen (2008). The most frequently used keywords in the articles were "qualitative research" and "health management". Our data show that qualitative studies in health tended to increase, especially after 2007. Accordingly, it is thought that existing problems in some health services can be solved by encouraging the collection of primary data through qualitative study methods. For this reason, we think that qualitative studies that will provide strong evidence for solving the problems experienced in the management of health services should be increased.Bilimsel literatürde nitel araştırmaların sayısal olarak arttığı bilinen bir gerçektir. Bu bağlamda çalışmamızda sağlık yönetimi alanında yapılan bilimsel çalışmaların ne yönde gelişim seyrettiğinin ortaya konulması amaçlanmaktadır. Makalelere Web of Science (WOS) veri tabanında "sağlık yönetimi", "sağlık yönetimi", "hastane yönetimi" ve "nitel araştırma" anahtar kelimeleri aranarak ulaşılmıştır. WOS araştırması sonucu elde edilen makaleler R tabanlı Biblioshiny programı ile analiz edilmiştir. Görselleştirmeler için Tableau programı kullanıldı. İncelenen nitel çalışmaların özellikle 2007 yılından itibaren artış eğilimi gösterdiği görülmektedir. Yıllık ortalama atıf sayısına göre en çok atıf alan yazar Willis-Shattuck (2008), en az atıf alan yazar ise Kristensen (2008) olmuştur. Makalelerde en sık kullanılan anahtar kelimeler “niteliksel araştırma” ve “sağlık yönetimi” oldu. Verilerimiz sağlıkta nitel çalışmaların özellikle 2007 sonrasında artış eğiliminde olduğunu göstermektedir. Buna göre birincil verilerin niteliksel çalışma yöntemleriyle toplanmasının teşvik edilmesi nedeniyle bazı sağlık hizmetlerinde var olan sorunların çözülebileceği düşünülmektedir. Bu nedenle sağlık hizmetlerinin yönetiminde yaşanan sorunların çözümüne yönelik güçlü kanıtlar sunacak niteliksel çalışmaların arttırılması gerektiğini düşünüyoruz
Evaluation of retinal inflammatory biomarkers after intravitreal steroid implant and Ranibizumab injection in diabetic macular edema
No full textPurpose: To compare the efficacy of intravitreal (IV) ranibizumab (IVR) injection with IV dexamethasone implant (IVDEX) in treatment naive diabetic macular edema (DME) patients with inflammatory component. Materials and methods: Treatment naive DME eyes with subfoveal neurosensorial detachment (SND) and hyperreflective spots (HRS) were treated either three loading doses of IVR (18 eyes) or one dose of IVDEX (19 eyes). Central macular thickness (CMT), height of SND, the number of HRSs scattered on the individual retinal layers and photoreceptor integrity were assessed using spectral domain- optical coherence tomography scans over 3-months follow-up. Results: The mean change in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) was -0.11 +/- 0.08 logMAR in IVDEX group and -0.04 +/- 0.06 logMAR in IVR group at 1-month (p = 0.011). IVDEX group showed statistically significant more increase in BCVA compared to those receiving IVR injections at 2-months (p = 0.004) and 3-months (p = 0.017) visits. Compared to baseline, the number of total HRSs and the number of HRSs at each individual inner retinal layer significantly decreased in both groups at all follow-up visits. However, IVDEX group showed more decrease in the total number of HRSs at 2- and 3-months (p < 0.001 at 2-months, and p = 0.006 at 3-months) and in the mean number of HRSs located at inner nuclear layer-outer plexiform layer level (p = 0.016 at 1-month, p < 0.001 at 2-months, and p < 0.001 at 3-months). After treatment, the number of HRSs on the outer nuclear layer showed some non-significant increase in both groups. Conclusion: HRSs tended to migrate from inner retina to the outer retina in DME eyes by treatment. Dexamethasone seemed to be more effective option in such cases with inflammatory component
Policies for Enhancing Public Trust and Avoiding Distrust in Digital Government During Pandemics: Insights from a Systematic Literature Review
No full textThe coronavirus outbreak (COVID-19) has demonstrated the importance of the state capacity and public policy-making process in managing both the pandemic and the resulting crisis. Trust and/or distrust in the relationship between citizens and authorities can determine the success or failure of states in combating pandemics. The goal of this study is to provide insight into trust and distrust in digital government during pandemics by creating an overview of the scattered knowledge. Accordingly, the chapter creates an overview of the factors influencing trust and distrust in digital government in pandemics. The results showed that factors affecting distrust are mostly associated with problems in the interactions between citizens and public authorities, whereas factors affecting trust address governments’ policy responses and public compliance. The level of trust is a dynamic condition that can either be strengthened or broken. A single factor can result in trust for one person and distrust for another person. Surprisingly, trust and distrust can coexist at the same time. Governments must pursue a balance between trust- and distrust-related factors in times of pandemics to derive the dual benefits of trust and distrust.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Information and Communication Technolog
Public sector innovativeness and public values through information and communication technologies
No full textIn public administration (PA) literature, there are a number of big questions regarding institutional and organizational factors. Competency formation, availability of resources and citizen empowerment [1] are among them. The importance of big questions must not rely on instrumentality; rather should focus on how and whether they have consequences and value for society [2]. The literature also questions “the paradox of publicness” [3, 4] by referring the “special status of public organization” claim of [5] and “publicness theory” of [6]. Given that public organizations have different characteristics with regard to operational processes and organizational structures operating in a particularized environment [7:6], they pursue different ends [5]. Replying to these big questions, we put forward public sector innovation (PSI) and co-creation of public values (PVs) as particularly important when contextual and conditional indicators are at the table. PVs and innovations in government may serve the government to reorganize PA as a whole through producing holistic and long-term strategies to enhance public service delivery system in a multi-actor-environment. For this we need a functional mediator, thus we employ information and communication technologies (ICTs). Through ICT-led tools, various and differentiated stakeholders can meet on a continuous base to frame the collective ground. For governments, ICTs may well be used to realize collaboration, coordination, and co-creation values that would alleviate some of the issues addressed via the big questions.Information and Communication Technolog
Perceived Soundscape of Urban Historical Places: A Case Study of Hamamönü, Ankara
No full textAbstractThis study investigates the integrity between the visual landscape and the acoustic landscape characteristics of an urban historic district of Ankara, namely Hamamönü that has recently faced an urban renewal process. Data were collected through questionnaire surveys, field observations and sound level measurements. Findings show that despite the visual character of the buildings has been preserved and restored according to the original, the uses, users, and consequently the character of the area has changed. It is needed to develop a holistic approach where integrity between different landscape elements and functions should be the focus in order to maintain historical values in urban environments
Optimal Control Strategies for Seasonal Thermal Energy Storage Systems with Market Interaction
No full textSeasonal thermal energy storage systems (STESSs) can shift the delivery of renewable energy sources and mitigate their uncertainty problems. However, to maximize the operational profit of STESSs and ensure their long-term profitability, control strategies that allow them to trade on wholesale electricity markets are required. While control strategies for STESSs have been proposed before, none of them addressed electricity market interaction and trading. In particular, due to the seasonal nature of STESSs, accounting for the long-term uncertainty in electricity prices has been very challenging. In this article, we develop the first control algorithms to control STESSs when interacting with different wholesale electricity markets. As different control solutions have different merits, we propose solutions based on model predictive control and solutions based on reinforcement learning. We show that this is critical since different markets require different control strategies: MPC strategies are better for day-ahead markets due to the flexibility of MPC, whereas reinforcement learning (RL) strategies are better for real-time markets because of fast computation times and better risk modeling. To study the proposed algorithms in a real-life setup, we consider a real STESS interacting with the day-ahead and imbalance markets in The Netherlands and Belgium. Based on the obtained results, we show that: 1) the developed controllers successfully maximize the profits of STESSs due to market trading and 2) the developed control strategies make STESSs important players in the energy transition: by optimally controlling STESSs and reacting to imbalances, STESSs help to reduce grid imbalances. Team Bart De Schutte
Product hacking as a systematic intervention: towards new strategies and platforms in design education
No full textAbstract: This paper is mainly about how product hacking can be categorized and implemented in a systematic way in design education. The theoretical or analytical part of the project is based on a study in which a great number of hacking projects are reviewed and categorized found in popular DIY platforms. The implementation or synthesis part of the research is a design project held in an industrial design department with freshman design students based on the categorization of function proposed, which are namely; enhance, change and add function. In this project students are required to make three kinds of interventions on functions of existing products, also share their projects in the selected platform (www.instructables.com), so that other people can find, criticize, develop, or apply it by using the instructions given. Sharing in platforms like these creates a connection between the analytical and synthetic phases of the paper, and also makes it different from other classical projects confined to a closed studio atmosphere.This paper also seeks for the possibility of fresh perspectives on issues like sustainability, ready-made and open source design by engaging students in an intervention-based design process where they look for formulating their designs in a methodological way.One other aspect of the project was the idea that it has the potential to create an advantage or value for the time and context it was given, that is when the COVID-19 has started to influence our lives deeply. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V
Ebü'l Kâsım el-Kâ'bî'nin Kitâbü'l-makâlât ve Ebü'l-Hasan el-Eş'arî'nin Makâlâtü'l-İslâmiyyîn adlı eserlerinde mürcie tasviri
No full textÇalışmamız, Ebü'l-Kâsım el-Kâ‛bî'nin Kitâbü'l-makâlât adlı eseri ile Ebü'l-Hasan el-Eş‛arî'nin Makâlâtü'l-İslamiyyîn adlı eserlerinin Mürcie bahsinin karşılaştırılmasını ele almaktadır. Bu bahsi ele almamızın nedeni Ebü'l-Hasan el-Eş‛arî'nin kendisinden önce bu alanda çalışma yapmış olan Ebü'l-Kâsım el-Kâ‛bî'den eserini yazarken etkilenip etkilenmediğini veya eseri yazarken onu taklit edip etmediğini tespit etmektir. Bu iki müellif hakkında daha önce yapılan Mu‛tezilî ve Hâricî fırkalarla ilgili çalışmalarda tasnif, içerik ve üslup bakımından birebir benzer ifadelerin kullanıldığı iddia edilmektedir. Çalışmamızın ana teması, iki eserin Mürcie bahsinde bu tür benzerliklerin olup olmadığı konusudur. Eş‛arî ve Kâ‛bî'nin eserleri arasında çalışmanın dördüncü bölümünde; eserlerde takip edilen yöntemler, yararlanılan kaynaklar, müelliflerin Mürcie'ye yaklaşımı, eserlerin içeriği, fırkaların tasnif biçimi ve müelliflerin üslubu gibi konular incelenmiştir. Bu incelemeler yapılırken sosyal bilimlerin temel ilkelerinden olan bazı yaklaşım biçimleri kullanılmıştır. Müelliflerin eserlerini kaleme alırken yararlandıkları kaynakları tespit etmek amacıyla ilk olarak onların eserlerinin muhtelif yerlerinde yaptıkları alıntılardan hareketle kaynak tespitinde bulunmaya çalıştık. Tespit ettiklerimizin dışında bu konuda daha önce çalışma yapan müelliflerin kaynak tespiti hususunda neşrettikleri eserlerden yararlandık. Eserlerin içerik bakımından kıyasını yaparken özellikle müelliflerin ortak olarak ele aldıkları konular üzerinde hassasiyetle durduk. Bazı konularda müelliflerimizin verdiği bilgiler kısıtlı olduğundan bu problemi ortadan kaldırmak için kelâm ilmi açısından kullanılan ana başlıklardan hareket ettik. Örneğin müelliflerimizden birinin imamet konusu hakkında sadece tahkim olayından bahsettiği ve diğer müellifimizin ise konuyu detaylı açıklama yoluna gittiği bir durumda burada imamet ortak başlığını kullanmayı tercih ettik. Müelliflerimizin eserlerinde Mürcie bahsi paralelinde kısmi de olsa bazı benzerlikler bulunmaktadır. Fakat bu benzerliklerin taklit veya etkilenmeden ziyade müelliflerimizin yararlandıkları birçok kaynağın ortak olması, kaynak olarak öne sürdükleri kişilerin benzer görüşlere sahip olması, dönemin hakim anlayışı ve halkın genel anlayışı gibi bazı sebeplerden dolayı olduğu kanaatindeyiz. Müelliflerimizin eserlerinde Mürcie bahsi özelinde bazı konularda bilgi ve içerik benzerliği olmakla birlikte fırkaların tasnifi açısından etkilenme konusu tartışmalıdır. Zira Eş‛arî, fırka tasnifi konusunda kullandığı yöntemde, ilgili görüşü ortaya attıktan sonra fırkayı görüş üzerine bina ederek sınıflandırmış, her yeni konu başlığında da aynı yöntemi kullanarak bu tavrını sürdürmüştür. Fakat Kâ‛bî, Mürcie bahsine giriş bölümünde büyük günah konusu üzerine fırka tasnifine başvurduktan sonra tekrar yeni bir sınıflandırma yoluna gitmemiş, fırkaları isimler üzerinden anlatarak konuyu sürdürmüştür. Makâlât geleneği inşa edilirken ilk eserlere yönelik yöntem benzerliğinin olması doğal bir durumdur. İçerik, tasnif, bilgi gibi konularda benzerliğin bulunması etkilenme veya taklitin bir sonucudur. Eş‛arî, eserinin mukaddimesinde makâlât yazarlarının düştüğü hatalara değinmiş ve aynı hataları tekrarlamayacağının sözünü vermiştir. Verdiği bu sözü tuttuğunu da birçok araştırmacı teyit etmiştir. Dolayısıyla o, derinlemesine incelemiş olduğu bu eserlerin kötü yanlarını eleyerek iyi yanlarından istifade etmiş olabilir. Bu durumda Eş‛arî'nin makâlât yazma isteği noktasında cüzi de olsa bir etkilenme ihtimalinden bahsedilebilir. Bunun dışında ulaştığımız veriler ışığında, taklit sayılabilecek bir benzerliğin olmadığını rahatlıkla söyleyebiliriz.In our study, the comparison of Abu al-Qasım al-Ka‛bi's book called Kitab al-Maqalat and Abu al-Hasan al-Ash‛ari's Maqalat al-Islamiyyin is discussed. The reason why we deal with this issue is to obtain information about whether Abu al-Hasan al-Ash‛ari was influenced by Abu al-Qasım al-Belkhi, who had worked in this field before him, or whether he imitated him while writing the work. It is claimed that similar expressions were used in terms of classification content and style in previous studies on these two authors related to Mu‛tazili and Kharijite sects. The main idea of our study is whether there are such similarities in the Murcie mention of the two works. In the fourth part of the study, among the works of al-Ash‛ari and al-Ka‛bi, the methods followed in the works, the sources used, the authors' approach to the author, the content of the works, the classification of the authors were examined. While making these studies, some approaches, which are among the basic parameters of social sciences, were used. In order to determine the sources used by the authors while writing their works, we first tried to determine the source based on the quotations they made in various parts of their works. Apart from what we have determined, we have used the works published by the authors who have worked on this subject before, as a complementary element. While comparing the works in terms of content, we tried to act on the issues that the authors deal with in common. Since the information given by our authors on some subjects is limited, we have moved from the main topics used in terms of theology in order to eliminate this problem. For example, in a situation where one of our authors discussed about the imamate issue only about the referee event and our other author went on to explain the issue in detail, we preferred to use the common title of imamate here. There are some similarities in the works of our writers, partially, in parallel with the mention of the Murjia. However, we believe that these similarities are due to some reasons stemming from the commonness of some sources that our authors benefited from, the opinions of the people they put forward as resources, the pressures of the dominant powers of the period, and the general understanding of the people, rather than imitation or influence. Although the similarity of information and content is limited in the works of our authors, in terms of the Murjia mention, the subject of being affected in terms of the classification of the sects is controversial. Because, in the method he used regarding the classification of sects, after putting forward the relevant opinion, he classified the sect based on the opinion, and continued this attitude by using the same method in every new topic. However, after referring to the classification of sects on the subject of great sin in the introduction to the subject of Ka‛bi Murjia, he didn't resort to a new classification again, but continued the subject by explaining the sects through their names. It is a natural situation that there is a similarity in method for the first works while the tradition of maqalat is being built. Similarity is matters such as content, classification, information is the result of being influenced or imitated. In the introduction to his work, al-Ash'ari mentioned the mistakes made by the authors of maqalat and promised that he would not repeat the same mistakes. Many researches have confirmed that he also kept this promise he made. Therefore, he may have taken advantage of the good aspects of these works, which he examined in depth, by discarding the bad sides. In this case, it can be said that the al-Ash'ari is somewhat affected. Apart from this, we can easily say that there is no similarity that is able to be considered imitation in the light of the date we have reached
