Showing papers by "Celal Bayar University published in 2009"

Analyses of FDI determinants in developing countries

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the best determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries.Design/methodology/approach – This paper investigates whether FDI determinants affect FDI based on both a panel of data (FMOLS‐fully modified OLS) and cross‐section SUR (seemingly unrelated regression) for 24 developing countries, over the period 1983‐2005 for FMOLS and 1976‐2005 for cross‐section SUR.Findings – The interaction of FDI with some FDI determinants have a strong positive effect on economic progress in developing countries, while the interaction of FDI with the total debt service/GDP and inflation have a negative impact. The most important determinant of FDI is the communication variable.Research limitations/implications – The limitations of the study are based on the development of data set which could be found uninterrupted for 30 years in 24 developing countries.Originality/value – The main objective of this study is to define the main FDI determinants that ...

Determination of heavy metals in fish, water and sediments of avsar dam lake in turkey

Abstract: In the present study, some heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni and Pb) were seasonally determined in water, sediment and some tissues of Cyprinus carpio from Avsar Dam Lake, which is an important water source for irrigation and drinking in Turkey. Heavy metal levels in water, sediment and fish samples were analyzed by inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy (ICP/AES). The obtained results showed that the average values of Fe in water samples were higher than the respective reference values for fresh water. Results for levels in water were compared with national and international water quality guidelines, as well as literature data reported for the lakes. The analysis of heavy metals in sediments indicated that among the six heavy metals tested, Fe was maximally accumulated, followed by Ni, Cu, Cr, Pb and Cd. Heavy metal concentrations were found to decrease in sequence of the Cyprinus carpio samples, in the muscle and stomach-intestine as Fe > Cu > Pb> Ni > Cr > Cd; in the gill, heart and liver as Fe > Cu > Ni > Pb > Cr > Cd and in the air sac as Fe > Cu > Ni > Pb > Cd >Cr. In the fish samples, cadmium, chromium, nickel and lead concentrations exceeded the tolerable values provided by international institutions.

Antifungal and antibacterial compounds from Streptomyces strains.

Abstract: Sixteen antibiotic-producing Streptomyces sp. isolated from the North Cyprus soils were evaluated for their ability to inhibit in vitro against six filamentous fungi including human and plant pathogens. One promising strain, designed as KEH23 with strong antifungal activity, was selected for further studies. This isolate was identified as Streptomyces sp. based on a great variety of morphological, cultural, physiological and biochemical characteristics. Its antifungal activity was confirmed in batch culture. In order to standardize the antibiotic production some cultural conditions like different incubation temperatures (20.0, 25.0, 30.0 and 37.0°C), carbon sources (glucose, glycerol, starch and sucrose), pH (6.0, 7.0, 7.5, 8.0 and 9.0) and incubation time in hours (24, 48, 72, 96 and 120) were determined. During fermentation, growth, pH and antibiotic production were monitored at 12 h intervals. Penicillium sp. was most sensitive to the produced compound(s) followed by Candida albicans, Cladosporium oxysporum and Alternaria alternata with an inhibition zone 28.0, 20.0, 16.0 and 15.0 mm, respectively. In addition, antibacterial activity of this strain was determined against human pathogenic bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Kocuria rhizophila, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The present results indicate that isolate KEH23 is a potential antibiotic producer agent for the biocontrol of plant and human pathogens.

Optimization of counter flow Ranque-Hilsch vortex tube performance using Taguchi method

Abstract: This study discusses the application of Taguchi method in assessing maximum temperature gradient for the Ranque–Hilsch counter flow vortex tube performance. The experiments were planned based on Taguchi's L27 orthogonal array with each trial performed under different conditions of inlet pressure, nozzle number and fluid type. Signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and regression analysis were carried out in order to determine the effects of process parameters and optimal factor settings. Finally, confirmation tests verified that Taguchi method achieved optimization of counter flow Ranque–Hilsch vortex tube performance with sufficient accuracy.

Nesfatin-1 and ghrelin levels in serum and saliva of epileptic patients: hormonal changes can have a major effect on seizure disorders.

Abstract: Nesfatin-1 and ghrelin are the two recently discovered peptide hormones involved in the control of appetite. Besides its main appetite-control function, ghrelin also has anticonvulsant effects, while nesfatin-1 causes depolarization in the paraventricular nucleus (PVN). The aims of this study, therefore, were to investigate: (i) whether there are differences in the concentrations of nesfatin-1 and ghrelin in saliva and serum samples between eplilepsy patients and normal controls and (ii) whether salivary glands produce nesfatin-1. The study included a total of 73 subjects: 8 patients who were newly diagnosed with primary generalized seizures and had recently started antiepileptic drug therapy; 21 who had primary generalized seizures and were continuing with established antiepileptic drug therapy; 24 who had partial seizures (simple: n = 12 or complex: n = 12) and were continuing with established antiepileptic drug therapy; and 20 controls. Salivary gland tissue samples were analyzed for nesfatin-1 expression by immunochemistry and ELISA. Saliva and serum ghrelin levels were measured by ELISA and RIA, and nesfatin-1 levels by ELISA. Nesfatin-1 immunoreactivity was detected in the striated and interlobular parts of the salivary glands and the ducts. The nesfatin-1 level in the brain was around 12 times higher than in the salivary gland. Before antiepileptic treatment, both saliva and serum nesfatin-1 levels were around 160-fold higher in patients who are newly diagnosed with primary generalized epilepsy (PGE) than in controls; these levels decreased with treatment but remained about 10 times higher than the control values. Saliva and serum nesfatin-1 levels from patients with PGE and partial epilepsies who were continuing antiepileptic drugs were also 10-fold higher than control values. Serum and saliva ghrelin levels were significantly (twofold) lower in epileptic patients before treatment than in controls; they recovered somewhat with treatment but remained below the control values. These results suggest that the low ghrelin and especially the dramatically elevated nesfatin-1 levels might contribute to the pathophyisology of epilepsy. Therefore, serum and saliva ghrelin and especially the remarkably increased nesfatin-1 might be candidate biomarkers for the diagnosis of epilepsy and for monitoring the response to anti-epileptic treatment.

Evaluation of artificial neural network techniques for municipal water consumption modeling

Abstract: Various Artificial Neural Network techniques such as Generalized Regression Neural Networks (GRNN), Feed Forward Neural Networks (FFNN) and Radial Basis Neural Networks (RBNN) have been evaluated based on their performance in forecasting monthly water consumptions from several socio-economic and climatic factors, which affect water use. The data set including total 108 data records is divided into two subsets, training and testing. The models consisting of the combination of the independent variables are constructed and the best fit input structure is investigated. The performance of ANN models in training and testing stages are compared with the observed water consumption values to identify the best fit forecasting model. For this purpose, some performance criteria such as Normalized Root Mean Square Error (NRMSE), efficiency (E) and correlation coefficient (CORR) are calculated for all models. The best fit models are also trained and tested by Multiple Linear Regression (MLR). The results indicated that GRNN outperforms all other methods in modeling monthly water consumptions.

Oxidative stress but not endothelial dysfunction exists in non-obese, young group of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Abstract: Objective. To determine if oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction exist at the same time in a young, non-obese group of patients with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Design. Cross-sectional study. Setting. Celal Bayar University, School of Medicine, Manisa, Turkey. Sample. Thirty-one young, non-obese patients with PCOS and 23 age- and body mass index-matched controls. Methods. Following clinical and biochemical diagnosis, malonyldialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), von Willebrand Factor (vWF), and nitric oxide (NO) levels of patients and controls were measured and compared. Main outcome measures. To find out oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction parameters. Results. MDA (0.12±0.03 vs 0.10±0.03, p=0.01) and SOD (8.0±0.7 vs 7.28±0.8, p=0.001) levels were significantly higher in PCOS group while there was no difference in vWF (527.2±280.1 vs 568.1±276.8, p>0.05) and NO levels (169.9±47.4 vs 168.9±80, p>0.05). When the results of the PCOS patients were divided into two subgroups in ter...

Association between severity of lower urinary tract symptoms, erectile dysfunction and metabolic syndrome.

Abstract: Introduction. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between severity of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), erectile dysfunction (ED) and metabolic syndrome.Methods. Our study population included a consecutive series of 190 patients with LUTS (International Prostate Symptom Score-IPSS >7) with or without manifestations of the metabolic syndrome. The diagnoses of diabetes mellitus and hypertension were obtained from the patient's medical history. Data on blood pressure, waist measure, body height and weight were collected and body mass index were calculated. Patients were assessed based on the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) for ED and IPSS and IPSS-Quality of Life for LUTS. Blood samples were drawn from fasting patients to determine, fasting blood glucose (FBG), triglycerides, HDL-cholesterol and serum total testosterone levels.Results. In severe LUTS patient group, IIEF erectile function domain scores were significantly lower than moderate LUTS patient group (p < 0...

Ohmic and Conventional Heating of Pomegranate Juice: Effects on Rheology, Color, and Total Phenolics

Abstract: Ohmic heating is an alternative fast-heating method especially for liquid foods. In this study, pomegranate juice samples, prepared by two different extraction methods, were heated ohmically by matching the same thermal history, with that of the conventional method. The ohmic heating application was conducted by changing the voltage gradient (10—40 V/cm) at 50 Hz. The samples were heated from 20 ° C to 90°C and held at 90 °C for different treatment times (0, 3, 6, 9 or 12 min). Although rheological properties, color, and total phenolic content (TPC) values changed at the initial heating up period, there were no significant changes during holding period (p < 0.05). Non-Newtonian (power law) rheology model had higher regression coefficient than Newtonian model, and the extraction method affected the consistency of pomegranate juice samples (p < 0.05). Color values of juice extracted from arils (APJ) was better than that of juice extracted from whole fruits (PPJ), as PPJ contained higher amount of TPC (p < 0...

Fault diagnosis of pneumatic systems with artificial neural network algorithms

Abstract: Pneumatic systems repeat the identical programmed sequence during their operation. The data was collected when the pneumatic system worked perfectly and had some faults including empty magazine, zero vacuum, inappropriate material, no pressure, closed manual pressure valve, missing drilling stroke, poorly located material, not vacuuming the material and low air pressure. The signals of eight sensors were collected during the entire sequence and the 24 most descriptive features of the data were encoded to present to the ANNs. A synthetic data generation process was proposed to train and test the ANNs better when signals are extremely repetitive from one sequence to other. Two artificial neural networks (ANN) were used for interpretation of the encoded signals. The tested ANNs were Adaptive Resonance Theory 2 (ART2), and Back propagation (Bp). ART2 correctly distinguished the perfect and faulty operations at all the tested vigilance values. It classified 11 faulty and 1 normal modes in seven or eight categories at the best vigilance values. Bp also distinguished perfect and faulty operations without even the slightest uncertainty. In less than 10 cases, it had difficulty identifying the 11 types of possible faults. The average estimation error of the Bp was better than 2.1% of the output range on the test data which was created by deviating the encoded values. The ART2 and Bp performance was found excellent with the proposed encoding and synthetic data generation procedures for extremely repetitive sequential data.

Rational antibiotic use.

Abstract: Background: Development of resistance to antimicrobial agents and increase of cost as the result of unnecessary and inappropriate use of antibiotics has become a global health problem. Therefore many strategies, which are aimed at optimizing antibiotic therapy, have been developed until now. In Turkey, an antibiotic restriction policy as a governmental solution was applied to decrease the antibiotic use and especially costs by Ministry of Health in 2003. The aim of this study is to evaluate the rational antibiotic use and the impact of the implementation of new restriction policy, with their reinforcement by infectious disease specialist, on the hospital wide use of antibiotics. Methodology: The data of the inpatients received antibiotics (n=495) during January-June 2006 were compared with our previous study performed by the same methodology before the restriction policy in 1998. In both studies, prospective active daily surveillance of patients was performed by three infectious disease specialists. The appropriateness of antibiotic therapy was determined using the criteria described by Kunin and Jones. The data were analyzed by using SPSS for Windows. Results: While the rate of antibiotic use decreased from 16.6% to 11.3%, rational use increased after the restriction policy (p 0.001). Besides the specific antibiotic use increasing, prophylactic antibiotic use was found decreased (p 0.001). Mostly determined irrationality was the prophylactic uses in both studies. As expected, infectious disease specialist examinations resulted in an increase in the appropriate antibiotic use. Conclusions: The restriction policy was effective in decreasing the antibiotic consumption and increasing the rational antibiotic prescription in our hospital.

Artificial neural network (ANN) models for determining hydraulic conductivity of compacted fine-grained soils

Abstract: This study deals with development of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and multiple regression analysis (MRA) models for determining hydraulic conductivity of fine-grained soils. To achieve this, c...

Exergy Analysis of Drying Process: An Experimental Study in Solar Greenhouse

Abstract: This article examines the exergy variation during drying in solar greenhouses. Exergy efficiencies were derived as functions of drying time and temperature of the drying air. An illustrative example is considered to verify Dincer and Sahin's model and to show the applicability of the model to actual drying processes at different drying air temperatures. This work is intended not only to demonstrate the usefulness of exergy analysis in thermodynamic assessments of drying processes but to provide insights into their performances and efficiencies. In this study, the drying performance of the passively heated solar greenhouse has been investigated. Experimental results under the meteorological conditions of Izmir, Turkey (latitude 38.24 N, longitude 27.50 E), are presented.

Long-term results in endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy: is intubation really required?

Abstract: Objective The long-term (median follow-up eight years) results of endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy approach and silicone intubation were evaluated by various aspects. Study Design Case series with planned data collection of 38 procedures for postsaccal stenosis were analyzed. Subjects and Methods Silicone intubation was not used in 19 of the randomly selected procedures. Anatomical and functional surgical success was evaluated subjectively and objectively. Results The patients' complaints improved in 84.2 percent of eyes in the intubation group, and in 94.7 percent of the group without intubation, with a mean follow-up of 112 and 96 months after surgery, respectively. Postoperative endoscopic examinations revealed that the rhinostomy opening was visible in 17 sides with intubation (89.5%) and 18 sides without intubation (94.7%). Conclusions Considering the similar surgical success rates, and disadvantageous factors such as granulation formation, patient discomfort, and cost related to intubation, we recommend endoscopic dacryocystorhinostomy without intubation as the treatment of choice in cases of chronic epiphora due to postsaccal stenosis of the lacrimal drainage system.

Activity of Some Plant Extracts Against Multi-Drug Resistant Human Pathogens

Abstract: Plants used for traditional medicine contain a wide range of substances which can be used to treat various infectious diseases. Hence, antibacterial activities of ethanolic extracts of 19 plant species were studied against multi-drug resistant clinical isolates using agar well diffusion method. Extracts of Liquidambar orientalis, Vitis vinifera,?? ?????????????????????? ????????????????????, Punica granatum, Cornus sanguinea, Euphorbia peplus, Ecballium elaterium, Inula viscosa and Liquidambar orientalis showed broad-spectrum antibacterial activity with inhibition zones ranging from 8 to 26 mm. The most resistant organisms were Escherichia coli (E. coli) (Ampicillin-, amoxycillin- and sulfamethoxazole-resistant), Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (S. maltophilia) (Amoxycillin- and nalidixic acid-resistant) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (K. pneumoniae) (Ampicillin-, amoxycillin- and aztreonam-resistant), and the most susceptible species were Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) (Penicillin G- and oxacillin-resistant), Streptococcus pyogenes (S. pyogenes) (Penicillin G-, erythromycin- and clindamycin-resistant) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) (Sulfamethoxazole- and novobiocin-resistant), respectively. Minimum Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC) of crude extracts were determined for the seven highly active plants showing activity against methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA), E. coli, P. aeruginosa, S. pneumoniae and the reference bacteria (E. coli ATCC 11229 and Kocuria rhizophila ATCC 9341 NA). MICs of active extracts ranged from 8 to 14.2 mg/mL against one or other test bacteria.

Relationship of sleep quality and quality of life in children with monosymptomatic enuresis.

Abstract: Background Health-related quality of life (QoL) in children with monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis might be influenced by impaired quality of sleep. The aim of this study was to evaluate possible deteriorations in QoL and sleep quality and the association between these parameters in children with monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis. Methods The study consisted of 44 children with monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis and 27 healthy controls aged 6–15 years. KINDL QoL and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) were applied to all children. Results Mean total KINDL scores in enuresis and control groups were 65.1 ± 11.0 vs. 67.4 ± 13.7, respectively (P = 0.44). PSQI scores were not significantly different between the groups (P > 0.05l). In the enuresis group, age showed significant negative correlation with self-esteem domain of KINDL (r = −0.39, P = 0.01) and positive correlation with sleep duration sub-score of the PSQI (r = 0.37, P = 0.03). Duration of enuresis showed significantly negative correlation with total KINDL score and self-esteem domain (r = −0.32 and r = −0.39, P = 0.04 and P = 0.01, respectively). There was significant correlation between physical well-being sub-score of KINDL with daytime dysfunction and total scores of PSQI (r = −0.53, P = 0.001 and r = −0.41, P = 0.02, respectively). Daytime dysfunction sub-score of PSQI was significantly correlated with friends sub-score of KINDL (r = −0.33, P = 0.04). Conclusions As age of the child and duration of enuresis increase, self-esteem domain of QoL worsens. Moreover, there is a significant correlation of physical well-being and friends domains of QoL score and total and daytime dysfunction scores of PSQI. These findings necessitate global evaluation of QoL and sleep quality in children with monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis to increase efficacy of health care.