Non-Parametric Regression Methods

The nature of the financial time series is complex, continuous interchange of stochastic and deterministic regimes. Therefore, it is difficult to forecast with parametric techniques. Instead of parametric models, we propose three techniques and compare with each other. Neural networks and support vector regression (SVR) are two universally approximators. They are data-driven non parametric models. ARCH/GARCH models are also investigated. Our assumption is that the future value of Istanbul Stock Exchange 100 index daily return depends on the financial indicators although there is no known parametric model to explain this relationship. This relationship comes from the technical analysis. Comparison shows that the multi layer perceptron networks overperform the SVR and time series model (GARCH).     

Azocalixarenes. 6: Synthesis, complexation, extraction and thermal behaviour of four new azocalix[4]arenes

Four new azocalix[4]arenes {5,11,17,23-tetrakis[(2-hydroxy-5-tert-butylphenylazo)]-25,26,27,28-tetrahydroxycalix[4]arene (1), 5,11,17,23-tetrakis[(2-hydroxy-5-nitro phenylazo)]-25,26,27,28-tetrahydroxycalix[4]arene (2), 5,11,17,23-tetrakis[(2-amino-5-carboxylphenylazo)]-25,26,27,28-tetrahydroxycalix[4]arene (3) and 5,11,17,23-tetrakis[(1-amino-2-hydroxy-4-sulfonicacidnapthylazo)]-25,26,27,28-tetrahydroxycalix[4]arene (4)} have been synthesized from p-tert-butylphenol, p-nitrophenol, p-aminobenzoic acid and 1-amino-2-hydroxy-4-sulphonic acid by diazo coupling reaction with p-aminocalix[4]arene. The resulting ligands (1–4) were treated with three transition metal salts (e.g., CuCl₂·2H₂O, NiCl₂·6H₂O or CoCl₂·6H₂O). Cu(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) complexes of the azocalix[4]arene derivatives were obtained and characterized by UV-vis, IR, ¹H-NMR spectroscopic techniques and elemental analysis. All the complexes have a metal:ligand ratio of 2:1. The Cu(II) and Ni(II) complexes of azocalix[4]arenes are square-planar, while the Co(II) complexes of azocalix[4]arenes are octahedral with water molecules as axial ligands. The solvent extraction of various transition metal cations from the aqueous phase to the organic phase was carried out by using azocalix[4]arenes (1–4). It was found that, azocalix[4]arenes 1, 2 and 3 examined selectivity for transition metal cations such as Ag⁺, Hg⁺ and Hg²⁺. In addition, the thermal stability of metal:azocalix[4]arene complexes were also reported. Dedicated to Prof. Dr. Mustafa Yılmaz on the occasion of his 50th birthday     

Distress among disaster-affected populations: delay in relief provision

Central to humanitarian logistics is the minimization of distress among impacted populations in the aftermath of a disaster. In this paper, we characterize two levels of distress, termed criticality and destitution, with respect to the delay provision of relief items. Delay in provision of a relief item will lead to destitution for a tolerable number of days, beyond which it will lead to criticality. We develop a mixed-integer goal program that quantifies these two metrics with respect to the number of days without provision of each of a set of relief items. The model determines the allocation of resources and the distribution of available relief items in a manner that minimizes criticality and destitution in affected population segments. The use of the model is demonstrated for the aftermath of a catastrophic earthquake in Istanbul, expected to occur by 2030.     

Determination of Tetracyclines in Milk,Eggs and Honey Using in-situ Ionic Liquid Based Dispersive Liquid–Liquid Microextraction

In this study, in-situ ionic liquid based dispersive liquid?liquid microextraction method for enrichment of tetracyclines before liquid chromatographic analysis has been improved. A 1-benzyl-3- methylimidazolium chloride was used as an ionic liquid. To increase extraction efficiency, some optimization parameters (amount of ammonium hexafluorophoshate, extraction time, centrifugation time, ratio of ionic liquid/salt) were investigated. At optimized conditions, enrichment factors of four tetracycline antibiotics (tetracycline, chlortetracycline, methacycline, doxycycline) were between 25 and 98. The residues of tetracyclines were not found in the studied real samples. For the accuracy of the method, the concentration of 50 and 250 μg/L of standard tetracycline mixture solutions were spiked to the blank real milk, honey and egg samples and the percentage recoveries were obtained in the range of 75.8–109.7%.     

Synthesis of carrageenan coated silver nanoparticles by an easy green method and their characterization and antimicrobial activities

The aim of the present work was to synthesize carrageenan coated silver nanoparticles (CA–AgNPs) using carrageenan as reducing and stabilizing agent. For this purpose, 10 mL of 0.35% (w/v) carrageenan solution was mixed with 10 mL AgNO₃ solution at different concentrations (1, 5 and 10 mM), and the resulting mixture was stirred at 100 °C at high speed for 2 h. The formation of CA–AgNPs was proven with the surface plasmon peaks observed at approximately 420 nm. The sizes and zeta potentials of CA–AgNPs were determined by Zeta-Sizer. Negative zeta potentials of CA–AgNPs indicated that the obtained AgNPs were stable. With scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope analysis, it was seen that CA–AgNPs have spherical structure. According to the energy dispersion spectrometer analysis based on SEM images, it was observed that the samples were elementally composed of carbon, oxygen, sulfur, potassium and silver. The chemical structures of CA–AgNPs were determined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and it was proved that the carbonyl and OH groups of carrageenan were involved in formation and stabilizing of AgNPs, respectively. According to thermal gravimetric analysis, it has been observed that CA–AgNPs were thermally more stable than pure carrageenan. Antibacterial activity of CA–AgNPs against gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria was investigated with agar well diffusion and liquid test. It has been observed that CA–AgNPs synthesized with 1 mM AgNO₃ did not have an antibacterial activity on Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Inhibition zones of varying diameters were observed in the 5 mM and 10 mM S-AgNPs groups. The synthesized CA–AgNPs (5 and 10 mM) have the capacity to be used in wound dressing materials or topical agents applied to burns and wounds due to their antibacterial effects and stability.

     

Peripherally and Axially Carboxylic Acid Substituted Subphthalocyanines for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cells

A series of subphthalocyanines (SubPcs) bearing a carboxylic acid group either at the peripheral or axial position have been designed and synthesized to investigate the influence of the COOH group positions on the dye‐sensitized solar cell (DSSC) performance. The DSSC devices based on SubPcs with axially substituted carboxylic acid groups showed low photovoltaic performance, whereas peripherally substituted one exhibited higher power conversion efficiency owing to improved injection from LUMO of SubPcs to the TiO₂ conduction band.     

Excitation pulse deconvolution in luminescence lifetime analysis for oxygen measurements in vivo

Oxygen-dependent quenching of phosphorescence has been proven to be a valuable tool for the measurement of oxygen concentrations both in vitro and in vivo. For biological measurements the relatively long lifetimes of phosphorescence have promoted time-domain-based devices using xenon arc flashlamps as the most common excitation light source. The resulting complex form of the excitation pulse leads to complications in the analysis of phosphorescence lifetimes and ultimately to errors in the recovered pO2 values. Although the problem has been recognized, the consequences on in vivo phosphorescence lifetime measurements have been neglected so far. In this study, the consequences of finite excitation flash duration are analyzed using computer simulations, and a method for the recovery of phosphorescence decay times from complex photometric signals is presented. The analysis provides an explanation as to why different calibration constants are reported in the literature and presents a unified explanation whereby calibration constants are not solely a property of the dye but also of the measuring device. It is concluded that complex excitation pulse patterns without appropriate analysis methods lead to device-specific calibration constants and nonlinearity and can be a potent source of errors when applied in vivo. The method of analysis presented in this article allows reliable phosphorescence lifetime measurements to be made for oxygen pressure measurements and can easily be applied to existing phosphorimeters.     

Simple high-performance liquid chromatographic method for determination of atropine and obidoxime in a parenteral injection device

Atropine and obidoxime in a parenteral injection device are determined by simple HPLC method simultaneously without any pretreatment at 228 nm. The relative standard deviations (R.S.D.) were below 1.6% for the compounds. The correlation coefficient was greater than 0.999 for both compounds in the calibration range. The recoveries at 5 mg/L concentration averaged as 95% for atropine and 102% for obidoxime. The uncertainty of the measurements for atropine and obidoxime was 2.8% and 2.4%, respectively.     

Impacts of pH and molecular structure on ultrasonic degradation of azo dyes

Sonochemical bleaching of monoazo dyes was investigated by irradiating 30 microM solutions of two "aryl-azo-naphthol" type model dyes in acidic, neutral and basic conditions using a 300 kHz emitter. It was found that the rate of bleaching in all cases was first order with respect to the maximum absorption of the dye in the visible band, and accelerated with increased acidity. The inhibition observed at alkaline conditions was attributed to the formation of anionic dye structures and their competition with the dye and its intermediate oxidation products for hydroxyl radicals, which are the major precursors of azo dye oxidation in sonicated water. Decolorization of the dyes was also related to the size of the molecule and the type or position of substituents about azo bonds. Comparison of color decay rates at similar conditions showed that the dye with a simple structure, low molecular mass and one ortho-substituent (hydroxyl) about the azo bond bleached considerably faster than the one having a more complicated structure (higher mass) and an additional o-substituent to the azo bond other than the OH group.