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The benefits of inspiratory muscle training (IMT) in patients with COPD were reported. However, its effects are limited in severe COPD patients. Further researches are required in new and complementary modalities demonstrating IMT efficacy in severe COPD patients. This study aims to investigate effects of manual therapy (MT) additional over IMT on functional capacity, respiratory muscle strength, pulmonary function, dyspnea, fatigue, and quality of life in severe COPD patients. Sixty patients with COPD in GOLD stage III-IV were included in this prospective single-blind randomized trial. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either MT additional over IMT at 40% of maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) (n = 30) or only IMT (n = 30) for 12 weeks. MT group received MT during 12 weeks for 30 min additional to IMT. Pulmonary function, respiratory muscle strength, functional capacity, dyspnea, fatigue, and quality of life were evaluated by spirometry, mouth pressure device, six-minute walk test, Modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea scale, fatigue severity scale, and St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), respectively. MT group had significantly greater improvement in FEV1%, FVC%, PEF%, respiratory muscle strength, function, dyspnea, fatigue, and quality of life compared with IMT group (p < 0.05). 6MWT (p < 0.001, effect size Cohen's d: 0.915), MIP (p < 0.001, effect size Cohen's d: 1.235), and mMRC score (p < 0.001, effect size Cohen's d: 0.982) were significantly improved in IMT with MT group. This study demonstrated that subjects in IMT with MT group had improved outcomes in functional capacity, respiratory muscle strength, pulmonary function, dyspnea, fatigue perception, and quality of life compared with alone IMT group. 35332685

The prevalence of multidrug-resistant microorganisms results in an urgent need for the development of new antimicrobial agents or new treatment strategies. In this sense, plants serve different alternatives. Berberine, a plant-derived compound, is one of the alkaloids known to display antimicrobial activity against several types of microorganisms, while its being a substrate of various efflux pumps causes a decrease in its efficacy. Biotransformation makes it possible to obtain novel or more effective compounds with only minor structural modifications using enzyme systems. In this study, biotransformation of berberine by Curvularia lunata was examined. The working concentration of berberine was determined by observing the microbial growth on agar plates. The concentration of residual berberine in the media was analyzed by HPLC. In addition, laccase and beta-glucosidase enzyme activities were followed for their possible roles during the biotransformation of berberine. The results show that at the end of 14 days, C. lunata consumed 99% and 87% of berberine with the initial concentrations of 0.35 mg/mL and 0.5 mg/mL, respectively. Enzyme activities were not affected significantly. Since the concentration of berberine decreased, the biotransformation of berberine by C. lunata could be mentioned. Monitoring of biotransformation products plays a crucial role in discovering novel antimicrobial compounds and new valuable molecules.

Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (ICAM-1) is considered to be a cancer biomarker in the assessment of metastatic potential in patients and an early indicator of atherosclerosis. A labelless biosensor based on the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) signal from the specific affinity interaction of an aptamer and a soluble ICAM-1 protein was developed for blood samples. The developed aptasensor provided real-time information on the concentration of the ICAM-1 protein in blood when integrated to a purification step based on a magnetic pull-down separation. The SPR aptasensor was highly specific with a limit of detection of 1.4/0.2 ng ml

In this study, the therapeutic hydrocolloid quince seed mucilage (QSM) from Cydonia oblonga Miller fruit is enriched with needle-like nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp) crystals to fabricate a novel biomimetic osteogenic bioscaffold. The molecular weight (M

21 Pags.- 8 Figs.- 2 Tabls. © Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License., Sorptivity is one of the most important parameters for the quantification of water infiltration into soils. Parlange (1975) proposed a specific formulation to derive sorptivity as a function of the soil water retention and hydraulic conductivity functions, as well as initial and final soil water contents. However, this formulation requires the integration of a function involving hydraulic diffusivity, which may be undefined or present numerical difficulties that cause numerical misestimations. In this study, we propose a mixed formulation that scales sorptivity and splits the integrals into two parts: the first term involves the scaled degree of saturation, while the second involves the scaled water pressure head. The new mixed formulation is shown to be robust and well-suited to any type of hydraulic function – even with infinite hydraulic diffusivity or positive air-entry water pressure heads – and any boundary condition, including infinite initial water pressure head. Lastly, we show the benefits of using the proposed formulation for modeling water into soil with analytical models that use sorptivity., This work was performed within the INFILTRON project supported by the French National Research Agency. This research has been supported by the Agence Nationale de la Recherche (grant no. ANR-17-CE04-010).

Hydrological processes 37(6), e14928 (2023). doi:10.1002/hyp.14928, Published by Wiley, New York, NY

Laboratory tests used to determine the compressive strength (CS) of building materials are both time-consuming and relatively costly. Numerous alternative methods have been developed for the indirect determination of CS. One of them is the nail gun. The driving energies of commercially available nail guns are generally constant, and nailers of different energies need to be used for materials with varying levels of compressive strengths. The scope of this investigation is to indirectly predict the compressive strength of most common building materials by establishing an empirical relationship between nail penetration resistance and CS by employing a single and simple tool. In the research, rocks, bricks, and concretes prepared in different cement/sand ratios with different strength ranges were used as materials. The compressive strength of the materials used in the experiments was first determined by conventional compression tests. The nail penetration depths were determined by conducting experiments on the same materials using a nailer with two different energy levels. An empirical relationship was developed by using nail penetration depths, driving energies, and nail diameters as the independent variables and the compressive strength determined by the conventional method as the dependent variable. According to the empirical relationship determined by multiple regression analysis, the compressive strength of building materials can be estimated with 89% accuracy by the nail penetration method.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) caused by a new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, , has become a serious health problem throughout the world. Although COVID-19 primarily presents as an acute respiratory tract infection, many neurological findings have also been described in patients. Neurological findings are classified into three groups as central, peripheral nervous system and musculoskeletal system. The most common central nervous system symptom is headache. Encephalitis, encephalopathy, seizures, acute ischemic stroke are also seen. The most common symptoms in the peripheral nervous system are loss of smell and taste. Myalgia, myositis and rhabdomyolysis also can be seen in musculoskeletal system involvement. Awareness of the neurological symptoms by physicians will be beneficial in early diagnosis and treatment of the disease., Yeni bir koronavirüs olan SARS-CoV-2’nin neden olduğu koronavirüs hastalığı (COVİD-19) dünya genelinde ciddi bir sağlık sorunu haline gelmiştir. COVİD-19 öncelikle akut solunum yolu enfeksiyonu şeklinde kendini gösterse de hastalarda pek çok nörolojik bulgu da tanımlanmıştır. Nörolojik bulgular santral, periferik sinir sistemi ve kas-iskelet sistemi olarak üç grupta sınıflandırılır. En sık görülen santral sinir sistemi bulgusu baş ağrısıdır. Ensefalit, ensefalopati, nöbet, akut iskemik inme de görülmektedir. Periferik sinir sisteminde en sık görülen bulgular koku ve tat kaybı iken kas-iskelet sistemi tutulumunda miyalji, miyozit, rabdomiyoliz görülebilir. Nörolojik bulguların hekimler tarafından bilinmesi hastalığın erken tanı ve tedavisinde fayda sağlayacaktır.

Contribution: This study provides evidence for the benefit of short online courses for the transdisciplinary competence development of graduate students. It shows the significant challenges students face while learning, and provides instructional recommendations to improve students’ learning quality and professionalism. Background: Developing wearable and collaborative robots require industry collaboration and transdisciplinary competence. Industry’s involvement in long-term programs is becoming infeasible, and the nature of transdisciplinary learning has not been explored to inform instructional practices. Intended Outcomes: This study aimed to provide instructional recommendations based on an in-depth examination of a diverse group of graduate students’ learning and teamwork experiences as well as outcomes in a 5-day online transdisciplinary course. Application Design: Thirty-one graduate students of engineering, industrial design, and health fields from four countries participated in online mixed-discipline instructional sessions and teams to address a real industry challenge. A mixed-methods approach was used to examine students’ experiences and learning outcomes based on a competence measure, session participation data, student journal entries, team progress reports, team elaboration visuals, and final team presentations. Findings: Students’ knowledge of industrial design, medical considerations, ethics and standards, effective teamwork, and self-regulated learning were increased. Students’ high motivation helped them deal with the challenges involved. Daily student journals, team reports, and visual elaboration tools were found to be beneficial for determining the challenges and learning quality. The observed student progress within five days is promising, making it worthwhile to further explore the benefits of short online courses for increasing graduates’ readiness and establishing university-industry collaborations in education.

11 Pags.- 5 Figs.- 4 Tabls. © 2022 Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license., Modeling infiltration in water-repellent soils is difficult, as the underlying processes remain poorly quantified. However, recent work has adapted the Beerkan Soil Transfer Parameter (BEST) algorithm to include an exponential correction term for characterizing these types of soils. The original BEST-WR (WR = Water Repellent) method used a two-term approximate expansion of the Haverkamp quasi-exact implicit model. However, the BEST-WR method can have considerable inaccuracy, particularly as the time of infiltration and the soil water repellency increase. Here, we extended the BEST-WR model by adapting a three-term approximation of the Haverkamp quasi-exact implicit model to water-repellent soils. We then tested the new method using analytical data. For highly water-repellent soils, the proposed method had better performance when estimating soil sorptivity (S) and soil saturated conductivity (Ks), with respective errors of less than 1.5 % and 8 %, compared to relative errors of more than 10 % and 30 % with the two-term BEST-WR method. We also tested both approaches with experimental data. The two methods provided similar estimates for hydraulic parameters, with linear correlations between methods of R2 = 0.84 for S and R2 = 0.88 for Ks. Initial infiltration was not well modeled by either the two-term or three-term model for 33 tests, thus revealing limitations in the applied exponential model that we used to account for soil repellency. Nonetheless, the proposed three-term expression provided better fits than the two-term model for most of the infiltration runs, meaning that this new approach is more robust when modeling infiltration processes in water-repellent soils., This work was supported through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR) through the “Programma Operativo Nazionale (PON) Ricerca e Innovazione 2014-2020“ (Linea 1 - Mobilità dei ricercatori, AIM1853149, CUP: J54I18000120001), and the GASPAM project ”Gestione Agronomica Sostenibile dei Pascoli Arborati Mediterranei“, funded by Regione Sardegna (L. 7/2007, 2019-21).

Hepatitis-associated aplastic anemia (HAA) is a form of acquired aplastic anemia (AA) in which bone marrow failure develops after an acute attack of hepatitis. Bone marrow failure leading to AA is generally severe in cases of HAA and fatal if left untreated. This retrospective multicenter study investigated clinical and laboratory characteristics, possible causes, treatment, and outcome of HAA in children. Twenty patients from 8 centers were included in the study. Aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase were 10×ULN in 16 patients. Acute liver failure developed in 5 (29%) patients. Pancytopenia was simultaneously present in 6 of 20 (30%) patients. Eleven of the 20 patients (55%) were alive, in remission and transfusion free. Those who were alive either had undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and/or immunosuppressive treatment, except 1 patient who had received no treatment. Patients with the diagnosis of acute hepatitis should be evaluated and followed up carefully for presence of cytopenia, so that definitive treatment of AA can be initiated in a timely and appropriate manner when needed. Copyright r 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. 34669357

Background/aim This study aimed to analyze the serum melatonin levels and changes in sleep patterns in pediatric patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Materials and methods This study was designed as a descriptive, cross-sectional study. Serum melatonin levels and sleep parameters of children with the diagnosis of COVID-19 who had mild and moderate disease (i.e., COVID-19 group) were compared with those of children admitted with non-COVID-19 nonspecific upper respiratory tract infection (i.e., control group). The sleep disturbance scale for children (SDSC) questionnaire was applied to the participants› primary caregivers to analyze their sleep patterns at present and six months before symptom onset and to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on sleep patterns. Results The entire study cohort consisted of 106 patients. The COVID-19 group included 80 patients, while the control group consisted of 26 patients. The mean serum melatonin levels were 136.72 pg/mL and 172.63 pg/mL in the COVID-19 and control groups, respectively (p = 0.16). There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of 6 subcategories of the SDSC questionnaire regarding the present time and 6 months before symptom onset. The total SDSC scores were also similar in two different evaluation time points described above (p = 0.99). Conclusions We conclude that COVID-19 did not impact the sleep parameters of children. Serum melatonin levels of all patients were higher than the reference range; however, they were higher in the non-COVID-19 patient group than the COVID-19 group. Since serum melatonin levels were higher than the reference values in children with COVID-19, and this disease is significantly less morbid in children, melatonin may have protective effects against COVID-19.

Solar PVs are mostly built on uncultivated land. However, the increase in land values due to the increasing world population, the lack of suitable areas for potential PV plants, especially in the land-scarce countries, and the increasing energy need led researchers to seek new solutions. At this point, floating solar power plants emerge as a good alternative with their advantages such as not occupying land area and reducing water evaporation by covering the water surface. In this study, a floating photovoltaic power plant with 120 kWp installation power was installed on Buyukcekmece Lake, and the effect of the microclimate data on the produced energy of the system was investigated. Since the energy produced by PV panels is highly dependent on climate effects and there may be many climatic variations depending on the geographical conditions, experimental measurements have been made annually in this study and the results have been analyzed in order to contribute to the researches in this field. From the obtained results, it is seen that the most important factor that positively affects the energy produced is solar irradiance, while specific humidity, wave loads, and module temperature have a negative effect.

In these days, people spend 87% of their time indoors. Therefore, buildings are responsible for 36% of the total energy consumption and 40% of the CO2 emissions in the world. Besides, energy expenditures can be reduced, especially through improvements in public buildings used by many people. In this study, an annual energy consumption was conducted for an Olympic ice-skating rink and sports complex in Istanbul with a capacity of 900 spectators, was analyzed. Annual energy consumption of the building was 2 915 032 kWh electrical energy and 157 944 m3 natural gas. It was foreseen that 40 000kWh energy savings can be achieved annually with the evaporative pre-cooling system.

Cep telefonları ve giyilebilir elektronik aygıtların fonksiyonlarını kesintisiz biçimde yerine getirebilmeleri için gereksinim duyulan enerjinin üretimi ve depolanması, hafif ve esnek elemanlarla sağlanmalıdır. Konvansiyonel piller; gerekli pratiklik, esneklik, konfor ve hafifliği sağlama konusunda yetersizlik kalmaktadır. Bu durum, enerji hasatçılarına yönelen ilginin artmasına neden olmuştur. Enerji hasatçıları, çevresel enerjileri elektrik enerjisine dönüştürürler. Enerji hasatçıları, yalnızca pratiklik sağlamaz aynı zamanda çevre dostu enerji üretimi gerçekleştirir. Enerji hasatçıları, faydalanılan enerji kaynağına ve elektrik enerjisine dönüştürme prensibine göre fotovoltaik, termoelektrik, elektromanyetik, piezoelektrik ve triboelektrik gibi sınıflara ayrılabilir. Triboelektrik enerji hasatçıları sürtünme sırasında oluşan statik elektriği kullanılabilir enerjiye dönüştürür. Triboelektrik enerji hasatçıları ile; dikey temas ayrılma, düzlem içi kaydırma, tek elektrotlu, serbest triboelektik tabaka modları gibi farklı çalışma modlarında enerji elde edebilir. İlk defa 2012 yılında geliştirilen, ardından yoğun biçimde araştırma çalışmalarına konu olan triboelektrik enerji hasatçılar; yüksek güç çıkışları, nanoteknoloji ile uyumları, geniş malzeme ve tasarım seçenekleri, küçük boyutları, hafif ve esnek yapıları, düşük maliyetleri ve giyilebilir aygıtlara eklenebilmeleri ile geleceğin enerji teknolojisi olmaya adaydır.

In engineering applications, to increase productivity and to decrease production costs, the selection of the proper engineering material is essential. At that point, machining operations directly affect the production costs. Therefore, determination of the material with the desired mechanical properties and easy-to-cut characteristics has a critical importance. This situation is currently gaining more importance in especially defense industry applications in which high strength engineering materials are heavily employed. In addition, tool performance and final product quality are directly influenced by the cooling and/or lubrication conditions in particularly interrupted cutting operations. In this study, machinability characteristics of G18NiMoCr3-6+QT1 cast steel (CS) and 1050-6 austempered ductile iron (ADI) with similar mechanical properties during milling operations were investigated. The tests were performed using TiAlN coated cemented carbide (WC-Co) end mills under dry, conventional cutting fluid (CCF), and minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) conditions. Under each condition, the variations of cutting forces, tool wear, average surface roughness (Ra), and subsurface microstructure and microhardness were analyzed for both materials and then compared to one another. Test results showed that 1050-6 ADI led to further tool wear in comparison to G18NiMoCr3-6+QT1 CS. According to obtained results, dry condition is more favorable than CCF and MQL conditions in terms of cutting forces, surface roughness, and tool wear for both types of material. In addition, examinations on subsurface microstructures showed that MQL conditions provided an effective cutting environment to maintain microstructural stability of workpiece materials.

To investigate the importance of hepcidin and paraoxonase in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS).Eighty-eight patients with sleep disorders were included and divided into four groups: simple snoring (SS), mild, moderate, and severe OSAS. All patients underwent polysomnography. The hepcidin and paraoxonase levels were examined and compared between the groups.There were significant differences between the four groups in terms of paraoxonase levels. In the SS group, the paraoxonase value was significantly higher than in the other three groups. In the analysis, Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI) was negatively correlated with paraoxonase levels.A significant difference was found between the OSAS groups with respect to paraoxonase enzyme, and a negative correlation with AHI was observed. Paraoxonase level could be used as a biomarker in OSAS. No significant data was found for hepcidin levels; therefore, hepcidin cannot be used as a biomarker in OSAS.

Aim:Hypercalcemia (HCM) is a common clinical problem characterized by a serum corrected calcium (cCa) level of >10.7 mg/dL. Primary hyperparathyroidism and malignancy are mostly (90%) involved in the etiology. In this study, we aimed to determine the relationship of cCa and phosphorus (P) levels, cCa/P ratio and gender with the etiology of HCM and one-week mortality.Methods:Records of HCM patients older than 18 years of age who were hospitalized between January 1, 2017 and December 31, 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Age, gender, cCa and P levels, HCM etiology and one-week survival status of the patients were recorded. Subsequently, the patients were divided into two groups according to whether the etiology of HCM was benign or malignant. Then, the groups were compared statistically in terms of gender, biochemical values and one-week survival.Results:The median level of serum cCa was found to be significantly higher in males (p

Gübre sıyırıcılar genellikle 50 baş ve üzeri, büyükbaş yetiştiriciliğin yapıldığı hayvancılık işletmelerinde kullanılan, insan iş yükünü azaltan basit yapılı ve işlevi yüksek tarım aletlerindendir. Bir bağ çekme düzeneği ile çalışan bu aletler çekilme yöntemine göre hidrolik (pistonlu) ve mekanik (zincirli) tip olmak üzere ikiye ayrılmaktadır. Özellikle zincirli tip sıyıcılar yaygın olarak kullanılmaktadır ancak bu tip alet tasarımlarında, ihtiyaç duyulan gereklilikleri karşılayabilecek geometrik özellikler ve malzeme seçimi uygun yapılmamış ise, çalışma esnasında alet elemanları üzerinde plastik deformasyon ve kırılma hasarları meydana gelebilmektedir. Bu tip istenmeyen hasarların önüne geçebilmek amacıyla makine ve alet tasarımlarında ileri düzey bilgisayar destekli tasarım ve mühendislik uygulamalarını kullanmak oldukça yararlı olmaktadır. Bu çalışmada 50 adet kapasiteli büyük baş hayvan yetiştiriciliğinin yapıldığı bir işletmeye uygun, 3.75 m sıyırma genişliğine sahip özel tasarım bir gübre sıyırıcı küreğinin üç boyutlu bilgisayar destekli tasarımı gerçekleştirilmiş ve gerçek çalışma koşulları altında uğradığı deformasyon davranışı ticari bir sonlu elemanlar yöntemi kodu ile analiz edilmiştir. Analizlerde hasar kriteri olarak malzeme akma dayanım değerleri referans alınmıştır. Gerçekleştirilen analiz neticesinde herhangi bir plastik deformasyon ya da kırılma hasarı izine rastlanılmamıştır ver en yüksek eşdeğer (Von Mises) gerilme değerine karşılık gelen malzeme güvenli çalışma katsayısı yaklaşık 1.368 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Analiz sonuçları ile tasarım geliştirme çalışmalarında kullanılabilecek faydalı görsel ve sayısal çıktılar ortaya konmuştur.

This research deals with the impact of the microclimate on historical wooden buildings exposed to open sea streams. The Florya Ataturk Marine Mansion in Istanbul, erected on the sea, totally defenceless to weather and sea effects, has been selected as representative case study for many other buildings located in Bosphorus line. In order to address the effect of the environment on the building exposed to open sea streams microclimatic data were collected for one year. The synergistic effect of the sea-salt aerosol and microclimatic conditions were discussed for the assessment of the impact of the marine environment on the durability of the Mansion, identifying the more vulnerable parts of the building as well as the more critical periods. The results indicate that while moisture content changes from 20.9% to 36.7% and temperature changes from 14.1 degrees C to 28.7 degrees C, thermal conductivity coefficient changes from 0.18 W.m(-1)K(-1) to 0.26 W.m(-1)K(-1), according to the facade of the building and the season as similar to previous studies.

Sour cherry (Prunus cerasus L.), is a fruit species of Prunus in the subgenus cerasus in Rosaceae (Rosaceae) family. It is closely related to the sweet cherry, but it has a more acidic fruit. Two major cherry tree varieties are grown in Turkey. One of them is ’Kutahya’ cherry which suitable for use with all types of fruit and the other one is ‘Hungarian Cherry’ cultivation has spread to all regions of Turkey, although commercial aquaculture has been limited areas which are suitable climatic conditions. In Turkey, the most labor force is in harvesting was determined in sour cherry studies concerning the production process. In addition, the sour cherry harvesting constitutes of 30–60% of total production costs. Harvesting process is emerged as the most important factor determining in the cost of production. Therefore, basic research has to be made for cherries and system use in mechanical harvesting operation. In this study, some physico-mechanical properties were determined for mechanical harvesting of two cherries (‘Kutahya’ and ‘Hungarian Cherry’) in four different harvesting times. These properties are such as dimensions, projection area, fruit hardness, picking force of fruit stalk, picking force of fruit from stalk. To determine these parameters, an apparatus consisting of a load cell, and slot was used. The knowledge on these parameters is important for the development of new technological equipment and for reducing the losses occurred in sour cherry production.

Ein Großteil der Schäden an Ingenieurbauwerken wird durch Korrosion verursacht. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden repräsentative Erhaltungsprojekte von Ingenieurbauwerken in der Schweiz detailliert analysiert. In den untersuchten Fällen zeigte sich, dass 56 % der Instandsetzungskosten (± 11 %) direkt durch die Korrosion verursacht werden. Bei Ingenieurbauwerken im Straßennetz der Schweiz liegen die direkt durch Korrosion verursachten Kosten somit schätzungsweise bei 260 bis 510 Mio. CHF pro Jahr, also gegen 1 000 CHF pro Minute. Dies entspricht 0,08 % des Bruttoinlandprodukts. Nebst dem Straßennetz werden Korrosionskosten auch an anderen Ingenieurbauwerken erwartet, etwa an der Bahninfrastruktur, im Energiesektor oder bei Wohn- und Bürobauten. Diese wurden hier nicht berücksichtigt; ebenso wurden die indirekten Kosten (Staus, Umweltbelastung, etc.) nicht quantifiziert. Die hier ermittelten direkten Kosten durch Korrosion an Ingenieurbauwerken im Straßennetz der Schweiz stimmen in der Größenordnung mit den für die USA vorliegenden Daten überein und können daher möglicherweise auch auf andere industrialisierte Länder angewandt werden. Aufgrund dieser volkswirtschaftlichen Bedeutung ist es zentral, das Korrosionsphänomen bestmöglich unter Kontrolle zu haben. Dies bedingt dringend technologische Innovationen und eine zeitgemäße Ausbildung von Fachkräften im Bauwesen., Beton- und Stahlbetonbau, 115 (6), ISSN:0005-9900, ISSN:1437-1006

Aim: Mastocytosis is a rare disease characterized by clonal mast cell proliferation in one or more organs. It can lead to different clinical manifestations and has no definitive treatment. in this study, we aimed to evaluate the clinical and laboratory characteristics of our patients diagnosed with mastocytosis in our clinic. Materials and Methods: Thirteen patients that were followed up with the diagnosis of mastocytosis at the Pediatric Hematology Clinic, in the Ege University Faculty of Medicine between November 1999 and April 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Seven of patients were female (53.8%) and six were male (42.6%). the mean age at diagnosis was 20 (3-68) months. At the time of diagnosis, complete blood count and peripheral smear were found to be compatible with the anemia of iron deficiency in three patients. Other parameters were normal. Mean tryptase level was detected as 5.9 (3.6-16.6) ng/mL, and only one tryptase level was found as slightly increased. the median level of total IgE was 91.1 (4.47-362) IU/mL. Mast cell proliferation was not detected in bone marrow aspiration and biopsy material of any patients. All of the cases were evaluated as cutaneous type mastocytosis. Conclusion: the possibility of mastocytosis in systemic form in childhood is very rare and bone marrow examination may be necessary in selected cases.

The use of a cold storage plant for reducing perishable food losses is insufficient in developing and underdeveloped countries because of required infrastructure and investments. For this reason, many producers continue to store foods with traditional methods, which can lead to considerable food loss. At this point, the relationship between the financial loss due to perishable foods and the costs of cold storage plant (construction, refrigeration equipment, operating) should be evaluated. In this study, the profitability of both the modern cold storage plant and the traditional potato warehouse in Turkey were compared with the data collected from a potato producer and an experienced refrigeration company. The subject is handled with the Monte Carlo simulation method. The results show that a modern cold storage plant provides a return on investment in a short time. Probability of profitability for a cold storage plant is 51.0%, 74.8%, 89.7% and 96.6% for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th years, respectively.

Refrigerators are one of the most frequently used household devices; therefore, they represent an interesting subject for investigations. One of these research topics is the condensation problem in the gasket region. Despite the use of heaters in the refrigerator door, condensation on the surface of the gasket may still occur. Thus, there is a need for an improved gasket structure to overcome the condensation on the surface of the gasket. The present study aims at development of a new gasket design to prevent condensation in its region of the refrigerator. Critical points, where condensation may occur on the gasket surface, were determined experimentally and the parameters of a new design were clarified by numerical analysis. Various air chambers were created in the gasket to change the temperature distribution on the surface for preventing condensation at some critical points. The effect of these air chambers' location on the temperature distribution in the gasket region was investigated and the temperature of the potential condensation zones was relatively increased.

Sorptivity is a crucial parameter for modeling water infiltration into soils. Many works have related sorptivity to the soil hydraulic functions, i.e., the water retention and unsaturated hydraulic functions. Parlange's (1975) formulation is one of the most used to relate sorptivity to the soil hydraulic functions, allowing the direct computation of sorptivity as a function of the soil hydraulic parameters and initial and final water contents. On this basis, several works investigated the possibility of direct analytical relationships between sorptivity and the hydraulic shape and scale parameters (e.g., Lassabatere et al., 2021). So far, most of the studies have focused on single permeability soils with monomodal water retention and unsaturated hydraulic functions. However, the use of dual- or multi-permeability approaches is increasing in relation to the necessity to account for preferential flows in soils. The approach developed by (Gerke and van Genuchten, 1993) or (Pollacco et al., 2017) are examples of dual-permeability approaches and allow the modeling of preferential flows in soils. In the proposed study, we apply the formulation proposed by Parlange (1975) for the computation of sorptivity for dual-permeability soils, considering the approaches proposed by Gerke and van Genuchten (1993) and Pollacco et al. (2017). Our developments lead to a relation between the bulk sorptivity of the dual permeability soils to those of the matrix and the fast-flow compartments, plus additional terms. We end with the scaling of the proposed relation for investigating the effects of the matrix and fast-flow shape and scale parameters and the volumetric content occupied by the fast-flow compartment.ReferencesGerke, H. H. and van Genuchten, M. T.: A dual-porosity model for simulating the preferential movement of water and solutes in structured porous-media, 29, 305–319, 1993.Lassabatere, L., Peyneau, P.-E., Yilmaz, D., Pollacco, J., Fernández-Gálvez, J., Latorre, B., Moret-Fernández, D., Di Prima, S., Rahmati, M., Stewart, R. D., Abou Najm, M., Hammecker, C., and Angulo-Jaramillo, R.: Scaling procedure for straightforward computation of sorptivity, 2021, 1–33, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-2021-150, 2021.Parlange, J.-Y.: On Solving the Flow Equation in Unsaturated Soils by Optimization: Horizontal Infiltration, 39, 415–418, 1975.Pollacco, J. A. P., Webb, T., McNeill, S., Hu, W., Carrick, S., Hewitt, A., and Lilburne, L.: Saturated hydraulic conductivity model computed from bimodal water retention curves for a range of New Zealand soils, 21, 2725–2737, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-21-2725-2017, 2017.

Water-repellent soils usually experience water flow impedance during the early stage of a wetting process followed by progressive increase of infiltration rate. Current infiltration models are not formulated to describe this peculiar process. Similarly, simplified methods of soil hydraulic characterization (e.g., BEST) are not equipped to handle water-repellent soils. Here, we present an adaptation of the BEST method, named BEST-WR, for the hydraulic characterization of soils at any stage of water-repellency. We modified the Haverkamp explicit transient infiltration model, included in BEST for modeling infiltration data, by embedding a scaling factor describing the rate of attenuation of infiltration rate due to water repellency. The new model was validated using analytically generated data, involving soils with different texture and a dataset that included data from 60 single-ring infiltration tests. The scaling factor was used as a new index to assess soil water repellency in a Mediterranean wooded grassland, where the scattered evergreen oak trees induced more noticeable water repellency under the canopies as compared to the open spaces. The new index produced results in line with those obtained using the water drop penetration time test, which is one of the most widely test applied for quantifying soil water repellency persistence. Finally, we used BEST-WR to determine the hydraulic characteristic curves under both hydrophilic and hydrophobic conditions.

In the last decade, the development of methodologies based on Beerkan infiltration (ring or disk infiltrometry technique with null constant water head) analysis allows today to estimate the hydraulic properties of surface soils with increasing accuracy. In particular, the 3D model of Haverkamp et al. (1994) and its two-term (BEST methods) and four-term (4T) expansions (Moret-Fernández et al., 2020) have demonstrated their robustness. The analysis of the transient part of cumulative Beerkan infiltration allows the simultaneous estimation of the sorptivity S and the hydraulic conductivity at saturation Ks. Very recently presented, the sequential analysis (SAI) of Beerkan data (Moret and Fernandez et al., 2021) applied to stratified soils columns allows delimiting the part of the Beerkan infiltration curve governed by the upper layer and estimating its thickness. This approach opens new perspectives for using Beerkan water infiltration, especially for estimating the conductivity of the underlying porous medium. Numerical Beerkan infiltration of layered soils combination in 1D were produced using van Genuchten-Mualem model and Hydrus 1D software. Numerical curves were subject to SAI method to estimate the upper horizon soil hydraulic properties and the regime state of the infiltration flow allowed the estimation. Therefore, it is possible under certain assumptions to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of the underlying soil in 1D. This is the first step towards the determination of stratified soils hydraulic properties. This approach will allow new theoretical development for the extension to three-dimensional water infiltration into layered soils and relative hydraulic characterization of soil layering.Moret-Fernández, D., Latorre, B., López, M.V., Pueyo, Y., Lassabatere, Angulo-Jaramillo, R., Rahmati,M., Tormo, J., Nicolu, J.M. (2020). Three- and four-term approximate expansions of the Haverkamp formulation to estimate soil hydraulic properties from disc infiltrometer measurements. Hydrological Processes, 34 (26), 5543-5556. Haverkamp, R., Ross, P. J., Smettem, K. R. J., & Parlange, J. Y. (1994). Three‐dimensional analysis of infiltration from the disc infiltrometer: 2. Physically based infiltration equation. Water Resources Research, 30(11), 2931-2935.Moret-Fernández, D., Latorre, B., Lassabatere, L., Di Prima, S., Castellini, M., Yilmaz, D., & Angulo-Jaramilo, R. (2021). Sequential infiltration analysis of infiltration curves measured with disc infiltrometer in layered soils. Journal of Hydrology, 126542.

This paper focuses on preparation of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-based composites reinforced with okra bast fibers at different percentages of 5, 10, 20% via solution casting method. Fibers obtained from different sections of okra plants were biologically degummed and scoured with Na2CO3. Selected fibers were bleached, treated with maleic anhydride or grafted with vinyl acetate. Mechanical, physical and biodegradational properties of the composites were investigated. The tensile strength of the produced composites ranges between 33.8 and 55.1 MPa, elasticity modulus from 1.8 to 2.6 GPa, elongation rate at break varies in 2.8-10%. Chemical treatments led to improved mechanical performance whereas increased fiber content reduces tensile strength, stiffness and elongation, as well as water absorption. Fiber addition significantly affected biodegradation in a complicated way: by decelerating mass loss but accelerating deterioration of mechanical properties.

BACKGROUND Cystic fibrosis (CF) is an autosomal recessively inherited disease. Clinical findings vary by age of the patient, the organ systems involved, and the severity of the CFTR gene mutation. Pancreatic and liver involvement is prominent and exocrine pancreatic insufficiency is observed in the majority of patients. Point shear wave elastography (pSWE) is a non-invasive method that can quantitatively determine tissue elasticity and stiffness. In this study, the morphological evaluation of the pancreas was performed using the pSWE technique in pediatric patients diagnosed with CF. The effectiveness of this method for early detection of pancreatic insufficiency was investigated. METHODS Fifty-five patients with CF (24 girls, 31 boys) and 60 healthy children (29 girls, 31 boys) without any chronic diseases and who were suitable for the pSWE examination were included in the study. RESULTS The mean value of pSWE was 1.12±0.16 in the healthy group and 0.97±0.16 in the patients with cystic fibrosis. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups (p

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Objective: Inherited bleeding disorders are a group of congenital coagulopathies, arising due to protein deficiencies, which affect clotting, platelet function or fibrinolysis. Spontaneous gross hematuria or subclinical microscopic hematuria, which are often detected by chance, are relatively common in patients with coagulopathies. This study aims to evaluate the incidence, the causes and treatment modalities of hematuria in congenital factor deficiencies.Method: Data concerning the type of coagulation defect, the level of deficient factor, age of the patients with hematuria episodes, presence of inhibitor, ongoing treatment modality, the etiology of hematuria, the treatment approach to hematuria, the number of hematuria episodes has been collected from medical records and hemophilia dairies of patients between 1985 and 2015 and confirmed by phone calls. Six hundred twenty nine patients with congenital factor deficiencies followed were evaluated retrospectively.Results: Hematuria was seen in 10.1% of hemophilia A, 15.5% of hemophilia B, 3.8% of von Willebrand's disease patients and 7% of patients with other factor deficiencies. Hematuria was seen in 2 mild, 20 moderate and 29 severe factor VIII and IX deficiencies. In 7 of these patients inhibitor was positive. While no etiological reason for hematuria could be identified in 78% of these patients, 15.3% had nephrolithiasis, 1.7% had post streptococcal acute glomerulonephritis, 3.4% had urinary tract infection and 1.7% had a renal cyst.Conclusion: The study demonstrates that hematuria is relatively common in factor deficiencies, whereas further studies are needed to elucidate the causes and effects on renal function in children with coagulation deficiencies.

Determination of the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of construction materials in the laboratory is tedious and time-consuming. There have been many attempts to indirectly predict UCS using simpler tools and techniques. One of them is the nail gun. The scope of this investigation is to design a nailer which can be applied all construction materials whose UCS range from 1-100 MPa. In the research, rocks, bricks, and concretes prepared in different cement/sand ratios with different strength ranges were used as materials. The unconfined compressive strength of the materials used in the experiments was first determined by conventional compression tests. The nail penetration depths were determined by conducting experiments on the same materials using a nailer with two different energy levels. An empirical relationship was developed by using nail penetration depths, driving energies, and nail diameters as the independent variables and the UCS determined by the conventional method as the dependent variable. According to the empirical relationship determined by multiple regression analysis, the UCS of building materials can be estimated with significance level of 99% by the nail penetration method. The research also revealed that the UCS of rocks might have a coefficient of variation as high as 30%.

Herein, a novel long wavelength monostyryl BODIPY derivative (BDZ-1) has been synthesized by rational design and used to detect oxalyl chloride, a highly reactive and harmful chemical to humans and other living organisms, with high sensitivity and selectivity. The purple solution of BDZ-1 changed to pink color immediately upon the addition of oxalyl chloride and the weak red fluorescence changed to strong orange fluorescence simultaneously. In addition, the practicability of BDZ-1 was further explored by using a smartphone application, allowing the sensitive and selective on-site detection of oxalyl chloride.

This study, it is aimed to develop an electrochemical aptasensor that can detect phosphate ions using 3.3'5.5' tetramethylbenzidine (TMB). It is based on the principle of converting the binding affinity of the target molecule phosphate ion (PO