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The industrial revolution has dramatically altered the environment and ecosystem. So many scholars have empirically attempted to reveal the most influential anthropogenic factors on environmental degradation. For this purpose, this study examines the leading determinants of CO2 emissions in the context of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) for 14 developed countries within the framework of the extended stochastic impacts by regression on population, affluence and technology (STIRPAT) environmental model from 1997–2018. For empirical modeling, CO2 emission is treated as the dependent variable, which is a strong proxy for environmental degradation. In addition to the GDP per capita, population density, and energy intensity (a proxy for technology), the basic model is extended to include variables such as EPU, renewable energy, trade openness, globalization, and information and communications technology (ICT) index. While the estimation results by the dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) estimator, which are also supported by robustness analysis, suggest that GDP per capita and energy intensity are the main contributors to emission levels, population density has no significant impact on CO2. Furthermore, while renewable energy (in model 2), trade openness (in model 4), and globalization (in model 6) have negative impacts on CO2 emission, technology (in models 5 and 6) and EPU (in model 6) make marginal contributions to CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing technology, digital images have become a widely used data type in crucial areas such as medical journalism and law. Since it is used in such important areas, it has become questionable whether digital images are original or not. Image splicing forgery is one of the most common forgery types applied to digital images. This work proposes a new image splicing detection and localization method. Our motivation is to reveal the boundaries of forgery by using statistical features of the image blocks. The proposed method has two main stages: training and localizing. In both phases, image blocks that contain edge information are used because the splicing operation causes some inconsistency on the edges. In the training stage, original blocks are selected from the regions that include original boundaries, and forged blocks are selected from the areas that contain splicing operation-induced edges. Transition probability matrices are calculated in eight directions to obtain the correlation of the borders between the neighbor blocks on original and splicing edges. These matrices are used as a feature for each block. The blocks are classified as authentic and spliced using SVM. A new post-processing step has been proposed to eliminate the false positives that may occur due to the presence of original regions that are likely to be detected as spliced edges in the image. The publicly available Columbia dataset has been used to show the effectiveness of the state-of-the-art and proposed method. The results indicate that the proposed method has performed well even under JPEG compression and Gaussian blurring attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of vitamin D deficiency on the mandibular bone structure by fractal analysis and panoramic morphometric indices. Methods: Ninety participants were divided into three groups as 30 individuals with severe vitamin D deficiency, 30 individuals with vitamin D deficiency, and 30 individuals with vitamin D sufficiency. Fractal dimension analysis (FD), panoramic mandibular index (PMI), mandibular cortical index (MCI), and mandibular cortical thickness measurement (CTM) were evaluated on panoramic radiographs. Results: FD values of the patients with vitamin D deficiency were found to be statistically lower than the patients with vitamin D sufficiency (p < 0.05). FD value of supracortical area above the angulus mandible (FD2) in patients with severe vitamin D deficiency was significantly lower than FD values (p = 0.002). There was no statistically significant difference between the groups in the CTM (p > 0.05). PMI was significantly lower in patients with severe vitamin D deficiency (p < 0.001). There was a significant difference in MCI values between the groups (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Vitamin D deficiency causes a decrease in bone mineral density in the mandible, and an increase in alveolar porosity. FD analysis and radiomorphometric indices in panoramic radiographs can be used to assess osteoporotic changes in patients with vitamin D deficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pancarli Ni-Cu±(PGE) sulfide deposit occurs in the Neoproterozoic basement complex of the Bitlis massif, which is one of the Andean-type active continental margin fragments with arc-type assemblages represented by the Cadomian orogenic belt. Pancarli sulfides are associated with quartzo-feldspathic gneisses (country rock) and mafic intrusions (host rock). Composed of only semi-massive ore, the Ni-Cu±(PGE) sulfide deposit is a small-scale deposit, and it does not contain net-textured and disseminated ore. The mineral assemblage comprises pyrrhotite, pentlandite, and chalcopyrite. The semi-massive ore samples contain 2.2 wt.%−2.9 wt.% Ni, 0.8 wt.%−2.2 wt.% Cu (Cu/(Cu+Ni)=0.2−0.5) and 0.13 wt.%−0.17 wt.% Co. The Cu/Ni ratios (average 0.57) are consistent with the segregation of sulfides from a basaltic magma. Low Pt+Pd100%S values of 0.08 ppm−0.89 ppm, relatively low Pt/Pd ratios of 0.2–1.4, and Pd/Ir ratios of 4.5–39 have also been revealed. These values demonstrate that the magma reached S saturation before its emplacement and the mineralization with high Cu/Pd ratios formed by sulfides segregated from a PGE-depleted magma. δ34S isotope values (average −3.1‰) of Pancarli sulfides are lower than mantle source. Negative δ34S value indicates contamination from surrounding rocks. Concerning the composition, remobilization style and magma type, the Pancarli Ni-Cu±(PGE) sulfide deposit is similar to the deposits associated with Andean-type magmatic arcs located in the convergent plate margin settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the air kinetics of well- and poor-speaking patients and their upper (UES) and lower (LES) esophageal sphincter pressures . The esophageal speech capability of 23 total laryngectomy patients was assessed with the Wepman scale. LES and UES points and pressures were measured, and air kinetics were compared. All patients were male, with an average age of 58 years. Both the LES and UES pressures were not statistically different between good-speaking and poor-speaking patients ( p > 0.05). The ability to speak was estimated only by looking at tracings. Good speakers are able to retain air successfully and on a long-term basis between the upper and lower esophageal sphincters. During short and/or rapid speech, these patients are able to rapidly suck and then expel the air from their upper esophagus. During long speeches, after sucking the air into their distal esophagus, they used the air in the upper part of the esophagus during the speech, only later seeming to fill the lower esophagus with the air as a possible reserve in the stomach. It has been shown that the basic requirement for speaking is the capacity to suck and store the air within the esophagus. For successful speech, the air should be stored inside the esophagus. MII technology contributes to our understanding of speech kinetics and occupies an important place in patient training as a biofeedback technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]