Proceedings

The behavior of chars from the carbonization process were studied when the lignocellulosic biomass was incorporated into the waste of electrical and electronic equipment for chlorine removal. Tests were performed at 300°C with a heating rate of 15°C/min and residence time of 60 min. Compositions studied had 100, 75, 50, 25 and 0% of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) in the mixtures. The composition of 50% WEEE with 50% lignocellulosic biomass presented the best char properties, having an increment of the calorific value in 5.5% relative to the initial value, and chlorine removal of 23.4% when compared to the forestry biomass. Full article

The technical-economic analysis was carried out for the production of sludge-derived fuel from a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The baseline for the analysis consists of a sludge drying plant, processing 6 m³ of sludge per day and producing a total of about 1 m³ of combustible material with 8% of moisture and a higher calorific power of 18.702 MJ/kg. The transformation of biofuel into energy translates into an electricity production of about 108 kW per 100 kg of sludge. The project in the baseline scenario demonstrated feasibility with a payback time of about six years. Full article

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death in many countries, and this continues to be the case because of the lack of sufficient treatment. One of the most common types is non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The increasingly large and diverse public datasets about NSCLC constitute a rich source of data on which several analyses can be performed so as to find candidate oncogenic drivers or therapeutic targets. The aim of this study is to reanalyze an existing NSCLC NCBI GEO Dataset (accession = GSE19804) in order to see if novel involved genes can be found. For this, we used microarray technology for preprocessing and, based on random forest, support vector machine and C5.0 decision tree models, made a comparison of the 10 most important genes recorded. This study was realized with R-Studio 4.0.2 and Bioconductor 3.11. In conclusion, the EFNA4 gene and other genes, namely KANK3, GRK5, CLIC5, SH3GL3, ACACB, LIN7A, JCAD, and NEDD1, are thought to be potential genes that may play a role in NSCLC and it is recommended that researchers working in the wet laboratory should focus on these genes. Full article

In recent years, developments made to reduce the consequences generated using petroleum products have been strengthening; therefore, biofuels have become a requirement in different countries worldwide with the objective of reducing not only the high levels of current pollution, but also mitigating the effects generated by global warming. Despite the advances that have been made in the field of research on Jatropha, it is still necessary to carry out more detailed studies aimed at achieving a better use of it, identifying the influence of its physical–chemical properties in terms of quality levels, as well as determining its behavior when mixed with palm oil to achieve a biodiesel with better yields, whose impact will be reflected mainly in the environmental field, helping to mitigate the production of greenhouse gases that are produced by petroleum products. Although currently the biofuels sector has made important advances in research, it is necessary to deepen the physical–chemical analyses both in the production and storage processes of biodiesel, so that in the future it can be fully fulfilled with the energy requirements that are currently only achieved with fossil fuels, so it is necessary to direct this research toward the development of new products with improved characteristics, especially when exposed to prolonged storage times and low temperatures. Full article

Recently, gene selection has played an important role in cancer diagnosis and classification. In this study, it was studied to select high descriptive genes for use in cancer diagnosis in order to develop a classification analysis for cancer diagnosis using microarray data. For this purpose, comparative analysis and intersections of six different methods obtained by using two feature selection algorithms and three search algorithms are presented. As a result of the six different feature subset selection methods applied, it was seen that instead of 15,155 genes, 24 genes should be focused. In this case, cancer diagnosis may be possible using 24 candidate genes that have been reduced, rather than similar studies involving larger features. However, in order to see the diagnostic success of diagnoses made using these candidate genes, they should be examined in a wet laboratory. Full article

Accurate identification of COVID-19 is now a critical task since it has seriously damaged daily life, public health, and the economy. It is essential to identify the infected people to prevent the further spread of the pandemic and to treat infected patients quickly. Machine learning techniques have a significant role in predicting of COVID-19. In this study, we performed binary classification (COVID-19 vs. other types of coronavirus) by extracting features from genome sequences. Support vector machines, naive Bayes, K-nearest neighbor, and random forest methods were used for classification. We used viral gene sequences from the 2019 Novel Coronavirus Resource Database. Experimental results presented show that a decision tree method achieved 93% accuracy. Full article

The COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic required changes to be made, especially in formal education processes. In order for the students to stay safe and healthy, many educational institutions switched to the distance learning method for the rest of the semester and continued their education without any intermission. Due to this switch, there has been a rise in the usage of learning management systems, and as a result, students started to encounter technical problems, especially during the exam periods, or they simply wanted to obtain more information about academic or administrative issues. This study used frequency and percentage analysis methods and examined the support request tickets opened up by students during distance education. Resolving the encountered problems quickly and effectively is very important in order to protect the motivation of the learners and ensure their successes. It was seen in the study that the majority of the problems reported by the students were related to internet connection or to the problems occurred during exams. This study aimed to share experiences with the researchers and technical and administrative staff working in this field and to contribute to the current distance learning literature. Full article

Earlier in 2020 a knowledge management project was initiated with the aim of organizational performance improvement at a service company. A maturity model was applied for the gap analysis and a systematic literature review was conducted to shape the project. As the COVID-19 grew to a global scale, the aim of the project has shifted into ensuring the business continuity of the case company. Without major changes the project was carried out. At the end it was observed the company not only operated without being affected from the pandemic situation but also improved their organizational performance as aimed initially. Full article

In recent years, the concept of digital transformation has emerged as an area where businesses have been working intensively. Digital transformation refers to the holistic transformation of businesses in human and business processes and technology elements in order to provide more effective and efficient services. Therefore, blockchain, which is called a disruptive technology, has great importance in ensuring the digital transformation of businesses. In this study, some determinations have been made about the adoption of blockchain technology and situation analysis while performing digital transformation in businesses. In this context, semi-structured interviews were held with experts in the blockchain field. Full article

Digitalization has transformed all aspects of life, from social interactions to the working environment and education, something that accelerated with the emergence of COVID-19. The same stands for education and training activities, where the use of digital tools has been gradually advancing and become merely online because of the virus. This brought forth the need to discuss further the applications, benefits, and challenges of digital tools within the framework of the education and training process, and the need to study examples of successful applications. This study aims to support both these requirements by presenting the case study of REFUGEEClassAssistance4Teachers project and its outcomes. Full article

In parallel with the rise of Industry 4.0 and the developments experienced with digital transformation, there are striking differences in the concept of innovation in terms of process and effect. It is a fact that engineers have a strategic importance in transforming the changes and developments in the fields of informatics and technology, where great leaps have been experienced, into innovations in a way that creates value. Engineers examine the terms of perceptions and perspectives in this adaptation process and 120 engineers with different educational backgrounds in Turkey were surveyed in this study to assess the diversity of the innovative vision under examination. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS)software was used for the stages of analysis. Full article

The industry–university collaboration has been emphasized for innovation and economic development in the Triple Helix Model. To facilitate this collaboration often necessitates implementing interfaces between stakeholders. EGEVASYON, an industry-driven platform coined from the combination of innovation and Ege for the Aegean Region of Turkey, has been proposed to foster collaboration by involving researchers in industry projects. Moreover, the platform has a portal project under development, where researchers can receive recommendations among ongoing projects. Our study presents the use of Jaccard similarity measure in this recommendation model. Moreover, recommendation selection is demonstrated using a sample dataset of EU projects. Full article

Software engineering is a discipline utilizing Unified Modelling Language (UML) diagrams, which are accepted as a standard to depict object-oriented design models. UML diagrams make it easier to identify the requirements and scopes of systems and applications by providing visual models. In this manner, this study aims to systematically review the literature on UML diagram utilization in software engineering research. A comprehensive review was conducted over the last two decades, spanning from 2000 to 2019. Among several papers, 128 were selected and examined. The main findings showed that UML diagrams were mostly used for the purpose of design and modeling, and class diagrams were the most commonly used ones. Full article

The aim of this study is to develop a web application that supports decision-making processes on subjects—such as customer relations management, marketing, and stock management—with data such as posts, comments, and likes from Instagram to four e-commerce companies. In this context, the data obtained from the Instagram accounts of e-commerce companies were recorded in a database after the pre-processing and classification stages. A web application has been developed that can support managers in their decision-making processes at operational, tactical, and strategic decision-making levels by visualizing the data recorded in the database. Full article

The design and synthesis of pharmaceutical cocrystals have received great interest in the recent years. Cocrystallization of drug substances offers a tremendous opportunity for the development of new drug products with superior physical and pharmacological properties such as solubility, stability, hydroscopicity, dissolution rates and bioavailability. This short review summarizes this highly topical field, covering why the topic is of interest in pharmaceutical formulation, the definitions and practical scope of cocrystals, cocrystal preparation and characterization, a comparison of different (traditional and novel) methods for cocrystal formation and the implications for regulatory control and intellectual property protection. Traditionally, cocrystals can be prepared by solvent evaporation method, grinding, and slurry method, but every method has its limitations for certain conditions. The current trend for cocrystal formation uses sophisticated methods such as the hot melt extrusion method, spray-drying method, supercritical fluid technology and the newest method: laser irradiation. The purpose of the development of a new method is not only to overcome the limitation of traditional cocrystallization methods, but also to generate simpler steps and a continuous process for the production of the cocrystal product. This article provides a brief explanation of each method that can be used to generate pharmaceutical cocrystals as well as evaluation of cocrystals. This article also covers how the developing field of cocrystallization may impact the pharmaceutical intellectual property landscape. Full article

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) fibre electrodes and their ability to sense paracetamol (as model drug) were studied. rGO was electrodeposited onto carbon fibre by two different approaches: potentiostatic deposition and cyclic voltammetry (CV) in the presence of graphene oxide solution. Carbon fibre electrodes coated with rGO (after five CV cycles) could sense paracetamol with an oxidation peak at 0.62 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). The limit of detection of this fibre sensor was found to be 36.3 µM with a linear range of 50–500 µM of paracetamol (R² = 0.9901). Full article

Small and mid-size enterprises (SME) are considered the backbone of developing economies in terms of reducing poverty and unemployment. Although most SMEs are still reluctant in new technology adoption, such as cloud computing, some benefited from the services provided by cloud technology. This study aims to assess the performance evaluation of small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) regarding the usage of cloud computing in their activities. The quantitative study was conducted on a sample of 112 respondents employed in Turkish SMEs. A research model is utilized based on performance specific scales. Results signified cloud technology’s positive impact on business performance. Full article