The role of financial systems in energy demand: A comparison of developed and developing countries.

This study investigates the role of the financial system in energy demand in the cases of developed and developing countries. Time-series analyses are carried out using the annual data period from 2000 to 2015. Results indicate that the financial system and financial markets are long-term catalysts for energy consumption in both groups under consideration.

Death-Related Status Consumption: Scale Development and Validation.

Although it has been widely discussed in the literature, no scale has yet been developed to measure the consumption aspect of death. This study aims to develop a domain-specific death-related status consumption (DRSC) scale to bridge this gap in the field. Results reveal the following three dimensions of the scale: conspicuousness, planning, and showing respect.

Psychosocial risk assessment using COPSOQ II questionnaire - A case study with maintenance workers in a metal plant in Istanbul Turkey.

Background: Psychosocial risks are among the significant risks at the workplace. This study aims to assess psychosocial risks for the first time in a metal processing plant in Istanbul, Turkey by applying Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ II) to maintenance workers, and comparing risks scores by Fine Kinney and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methods.

Method: The COPSOQ II questionnaire was applied to all 120 maintenance workers.

First report of quantification and classification of buried litter on the public beaches around the Sea of Marmara, Turkey.

The distribution and abundance of buried litter on seventeen public beaches around the Sea of Marmara were investigated in the period of 12-28 August 2018. The mean weight of total litter was found to be 73 mg/m and the mean number of pieces was found to be 66.2/m.

Not the Time to Take Chances! Why African Governments' Response to COVID 19 Matters.

Since independence, African governments have been criticized for either their slow, ineffective, or lack of homegrown solutions when addressing challenges in their respective countries. From economic and development models to dealing with conflicts, governance practices, and planning, overreliance and dependence on external practices which sometimes fail to take into consideration the unique domestic challenges have characterized the response of many African governments. This has, in turn, tainted the image of the continent over their ability to adequately deal with disasters.

A Marketing Approach to a Psychological Problem: Problematic Smartphone Use on Adolescents.

Unlabelled: Background: Smartphones have become an indispensable part of the daily lives of adolescents in the 21st century, which is characterized by a highly digitized modern world. Besides their many advantages, smartphones might pave the way to compulsive usage and addictive experiences. To remedy this problem, this study proposes an authentic approach which integrates consumer behavior theories and techniques such as unhook and gamification.

The role of shadow economies in ecological footprint quality: empirical evidence from Turkey.

The purpose of this research study is to investigate the role of shadow economies in the levels of ecological footprint for the case of Turkey. Annual data set ranging from 1961 to 2014 was used with this respect. The results of this study verify the long-term and positively elastic impact of shadow economic activities on the level of ecological footprint in Turkey; that is, 1 % change in shadow economic activities results in a 1.

MetumpX-a metabolomics support package for untargeted mass spectrometry.

Motivation: Metabolomics is a data analysis and interpretation field aiming to study functions of small molecules within the organism. Consequently Metabolomics requires researchers in life sciences to be comfortable in downloading, installing and scripting of software that are mostly not user friendly and lack basic GUIs. As the researchers struggle with these skills, there is a dire need to develop software packages that can automatically install software pipelines truly speeding up the learning curve to build software workstations.

A Self-Reported Study Toward Melanoma Knowledge, Protective Behavior and Personal Risk Among Nursing Faculty Students at AAB University of Kosovo.

Introduction: In nowadays, melanoma is one of the major problems of public health all over the world. In Kosovo, the incidence of melanoma has shown irregular tendency with significant increases and decreases in the last five years.

Aim: The aim of this paper was to detect the knowledge level of nursing students in Kosovo's University (AAB University) regarding melanoma and its risk factors; to evaluate their knowledge about the protection and prevention methods of melanoma as one of the main topics of dermatology and major problems of public health worldwide nowadays.

An Efficient Big Data Anonymization Algorithm Based on Chaos and Perturbation Techniques.

The topic of big data has attracted increasing interest in recent years. The emergence of big data leads to new difficulties in terms of protection models used for data privacy, which is of necessity for sharing and processing data. Protecting individuals' sensitive information while maintaining the usability of the data set published is the most important challenge in privacy preserving.

Detection of Early Right Ventricular Dysfunction in Young Patients With Thalassemia Major Using Tissue Doppler Imaging.

Background: Myocardial iron overload is the most common cause of mortality in patients with thalassemia major (TM), also known as beta-thalassemia. T2* cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the best way of monitoring cardiac iron, and new echocardiographic techniques can be used to assess cardiac function.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the systolic and diastolic right ventricular (RV) function of patients with TM using tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and to determine whether this echocardiographic technique is an adequate diagnostic tool for the screening and detection of subclinical cardiac dysfunction.

Evaluation of cardiac functions in juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus with two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography.

The aim of this study was to investigate subclinical systolic and diastolic dysfunction in juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (j-SLE) patients with speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) and the effects of disease activity on left ventricular (LV) regional functions. Thirty-five patients with j-SLE and 30 healthy children (control group) were evaluated between January and August 2015. STE was performed on all patients and controls.

Illness perception of dropout patients followed up at bipolar outpatient clinic, Turkey.

Dropout is a common problem in the treatment of psychiatric illnesses including bipolar disorders (BD). The aim of the present study is to investigate illness perceptions of dropout patients with BD. A cross sectional study was done on the participants who attended the Mood Disorder Outpatient Clinic at least 3 times from January 2003 through June 2008, and then failed to attend clinic till to the last one year, 2009, determined as dropout.

Conformational transitions of a weak polyampholyte.

Using grand canonical Monte Carlo simulations of a flexible polyelectrolyte where the charges are in contact with a reservoir of constant chemical potential given by the solution pH, we study the behavior of weak polyelectrolytes in poor and good solvent conditions for polymer backbone. We address the titration behavior and conformational properties of a flexible diblock polyampholyte chain formed of two oppositely charged weak polyelectrolyte blocks, each containing equal number of identical monomers. The change of solution pH induces charge asymmetry in a diblock polyampholyte.

Affective Temperament Profiles of Overactive Bladder Patients.

Introduction: Overactive bladder (OAB) is generally characterized by urinary urgency with or without incontinence and increased frequency of voiding and nocturia. Although animal studies have demonstrated the relationship between defective serotonergic neurotransmission and OAB, its etiology is still unclarified. Temperament profiles are hypothesized to be related with serotonergic activity and are studied in many psychosomatic disorders.

WDM network and multicasting protocol strategies.

Optical technology gains extensive attention and ever increasing improvement because of the huge amount of network traffic caused by the growing number of internet users and their rising demands. However, with wavelength division multiplexing (WDM), it is easier to take the advantage of optical networks and optical burst switching (OBS) and to construct WDM networks with low delay rates and better data transparency these technologies are the best choices. Furthermore, multicasting in WDM is an urgent solution for bandwidth-intensive applications.

Multicanonical Monte Carlo simulations of a de novo designed protein with end-to-end β-sheet.

One of the smallest proteins with end-to-end β-sheet is the designed 36-residue protein DS119. We recently suggested that the rate-limiting step in the folding of the βαβ protein is the formation of the central helix that then provides a scaffold for the parallel β-sheet formed by the two chain ends. In the present report we investigate whether and how this folding mechanism depends on the energy function, and compare the efficiency of molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo implementations of multicanonical sampling.

Computerized lung nodule detection using 3D feature extraction and learning based algorithms.

In this paper, a Computer Aided Detection (CAD) system based on three-dimensional (3D) feature extraction is introduced to detect lung nodules. First, eight directional search was applied in order to extract regions of interests (ROIs). Then, 3D feature extraction was performed which includes 3D connected component labeling, straightness calculation, thickness calculation, determining the middle slice, vertical and horizontal widths calculation, regularity calculation, and calculation of vertical and horizontal black pixel ratios.

Nodule detection in a lung region that's segmented with using genetic cellular neural networks and 3D template matching with fuzzy rule based thresholding.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a new method for automated lung nodule detection in serial section CT images with using the characteristics of the 3D appearance of the nodules that distinguish themselves from the vessels.

Materials And Methods: Lung nodules were detected in four steps. First, to reduce the number of region of interests (ROIs) and the computation time, the lung regions of the CTs were segmented using Genetic Cellular Neural Networks (G-CNN).

Lung nodule diagnosis using 3D template matching.

In this paper, to utilize the third dimension of Computed Tomography, regions of interest (ROI) slices were combined to form 3D ROI image and a 3D template was determined to find the structures with similar properties of nodules. Convolution of 3D ROI image with the proposed template strengthens the shapes similar to the template and weakens the other ones. False-positive (FP) per nodule and per slice versus diagnosis sensitivity were obtained.

Mammographic mass detection using a mass template.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop a new method for automated mass detection in digital mammographic images using templates.

Materials And Methods: Masses were detected using a two steps process. First, the pixels in the mammogram images were scanned in 8 directions, and regions of interest (ROI) were identified using various thresholds.