Software Research and Development Consulting

In historic stone masonry buildings, strong ground motions typically result in out-of-plane failure of the walls before their in-plane strength is reached. This phenomenon is especially pronounced in structures characterized by long unsupported spans perpendicular to their plane, in the absence of a diaphragm effect. In such cases, the strengthening intervention for the historic façade should be selected by considering the principles of conservation. The present study investigates the effectiveness of an innovative reinforcing configuration that builds upon the steel-cord-based techniques available in the literature, using experimental and numerical methods. The applied strengthening consists of no-tensioned steel cords embedded in the bed joints and vertically in both the head joints and the stone bricks of the masonry wall. A large-scale stone masonry wall specimen was designed and constructed to reflect the results of on-site material and dynamic tests performed on a reference historic masonry structure. A series of dynamic and quasi-static cyclic tests was conducted on both the unreinforced and reinforced conditions of the specimen. The proposed method was found to restore the out-of-plane strength without significantly increasing the stiffness of the damaged specimen. Furthermore, it was observed to improve the out-of-plane deformation capacity and overall structural integrity. The finite element models were calibrated based on the test data and exhibited a noteworthy agreement with the experimental results, particularly in terms of load–drift response and damage observations. Some model parameters were also proposed.

This study investigates the application of cloud computing in modernising e-government services within the public sector in the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Using data from Scopus-indexed publications from 2013 to 2022, the research identifies trends and key challenges in adopting cloud computing for e-government initiatives. The study uses a bibliometric approach and software tools like CiteSpace for data analysis. Key findings highlight the critical role of cloud computing in overcoming challenges such as inadequate IT infrastructure, limited financing, and data security concerns. The research identifies China as a leading contributor to the field, with significant publications on integrating cloud computing and e-government. Implications of this study emphasise the necessity for improved digital infrastructure and strategic investment in cloud technology to enhance public service delivery. The research also outlines potential future directions, including expanding cloud-based e-government services to increase efficiency and public trust. Overall, this study provides a comprehensive overview of cloud computing’s impact on e-government reform, offering valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders in the public sector.

We present a lightweight, real-time 3D human-pose estimation model specific to mobile devices that can be used for physiotherapy exercises. Our two-stage training strategy first learns 2D joint coordinates via an EfficientNetB2-based backbone, then freezes those weights and adds a compact regressor for the third (depth) dimension. Deployed in ONNX format, the model delivers full-body 3D poses with 30 joints, which is more comprehensive than common 17-point joints, while achieving accuracy on par with state-of-the-art methods. Extensive experiments on the public Human3.6M dataset and the TheraPose physiotherapy dataset demonstrate real-time inference (less than 15 ms on ARM CPUs) and mean per-joint position errors of less than 40 mm, making it ideal for mobile health and exercise-monitoring applications.

With the adoption of FIDO2 (Fast IDentity Online 2) and passkeys for passwordless authentication, enterprises should balance security and usability in account recovery and credential migration. Traditional FIDO2 recovery solutions often depend on third-party cloud providers (e.g., Google Cloud backups, Apple iCloud Keychain synchronization), introduce security risks such as downgrade attacks, or impose usability and cost burdens, making them less suitable for corporate environments. This paper presents a peer-assisted FIDO2 passkey recovery approach that enhances security while maintaining user-friendly deployment. By leveraging peer-assisted key splitting and encrypted storage, the method eliminates reliance on external cloud providers, ensures compliance with FIDO2 standards, and provides resilience against eventual server compromise and unauthorized recovery attempts. The proposed solution is evaluated using the usability-deployability-security framework, demonstrating that it offers a scalable, secure, and user-friendly alternative to existing recovery mechanisms. This approach strengthens enterprise adoption of FIDO2 by improving both security resilience and usability in account recovery.

In the present study, we investigate constant-angle ruled surfaces constructed by the motion of the elements of each of the modified orthogonal frames along a base curve in three-dimensional Euclidean 3-space. These surfaces are studied and classified based on the constant-angle property. In these regards, we obtain the characterizations of the minimal and developable ruled surfaces by using partial differential equations. Also, we give the conditions for these surfaces to be Weingarten surfaces.

Eleven provinces along the East Anatolian fault line have been severly affected from the Pazarcık M7.7 and Elbistan M7.6 earthquakes which occured in Kahramanmaraş, Türkiye on February 6, 2023. Many buildings in these provinces were totally collapsed. However, it is observed that several buildings located in the vicinity of the collapsed buildings which received adequate engineering services either sustained controlled damage or did not receive any damage at all in accordance with their design target. It is clearly observed that bearing soil conditions have a significant effect on the level of damage to buildings during these earthquakes. Most of the buildings that were destroyed or severely damaged during these earthquakes were built on very weak soil such as alluvium. However, it is another fact that the centers of the cities were located on soft soil near rivers or plains having agricultural value. In this case, it is clear that the first attempt to be made is to reconstruct the cities where they used to be. It is also of great importance that the city center of Antakya, which is known to have an important value in terms of the Middle East history and the history of religions is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. Hence, the city has to be reconstructed in the place where it is used to be. Considering the importance of the methods to be developed using high technology to increase the earthquake performance for the construction of the city center, a pilot study is conducted by choosing an existing zone with 9 apartment blocks at the city center. For this purpose, a block in Antakya General Şükrü Kanatlı Quarter with 9 buildings consisting of 5 and 8 floors is chosen as the pilot project region. A method has been developed to reconstruct these 9 structures in the region with seismic isolation. The foundation, insulator and plinth floors of the pilot region are designed as a single monolithic base and separate residential blocks placed on it. Basement floor consists of parking lots and shops. This study offers an economical solution that is safe against earthquakes, solves the parking problem of the blocks, and enables using infrastructure services of the central region of the city by preserving the current location and silhouette of the region, seismically protected with advanced technology.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. Cognitive functions and communication skills worsen as the disease progresses, thereby reducing patients' independence levels. Therefore, recommending software that can be used at home may be a useful means of slowing down the cognitive and communicative decline in AD. To develop software that can be used at home to slow down the cognitive and communicative decline and increase independence in individuals with AD; and to examine the effect of this software on the cognitive communication skills of individuals with AD. The study was completed in four stages: the development of the application; the evaluation of the participants and their training for the application; their use of the application at home; and the re-evaluation of the participants. A total of 32 individuals who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. These individuals were randomly divided into study and control groups, each consisting of a total of 16 participants, including six in the mild stage, six in the moderate stage, and four in the severe stages. The developed software was loaded on tablets and given to the participants in the study group. The participants in the control group only received their pharmacological treatment, while those in the study group received both their pharmacological treatment and used the developed application. All participants were evaluated with the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Language Assessment Test for Aphasia (LATA) before and after application use. A survey was administered to the caregivers of the participants in the study group after the use of the application. The results revealed a positive change in the cognitive-communication skills of the individuals in the study group, even if they were in the severe stage, according to the LATA and MMSE, as well as the survey. The application led to the greatest improvements in grammar on the LATA and orientation on the MMSE. No rapid cognitive decline was seen in individuals at all stages in the control group. In this study, software was developed in Turkish that can be used in every stage of AD as part of a holistic cognitive-communication intervention programme offering alternative and supportive communication for individuals with AD, even those in the severe stage. Results prove the effectiveness of the developed software on the cognitive-communication skills of individuals with AD. What is already known on the subject There are a few (as far as is known, three) applications developed in English for cognitive-communication disorders due to dementia. What this study adds to the existing literature In this study, for the first time in Turkish, mobile-compatible software has been developed for both cognitive and communication disorders that is specific to individuals with AD and can be used by individuals at all stages of the disease. The effects of the application we developed on the cognitive-communication skills of individuals with AD were shown in a randomised controlled trial. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? Using the app can help people with all stages of AD keep their cognitive and communication skills and have a better prognosis in terms of cognitive-communication skills, especially grammar and orientation.

Management of multimorbidity in patients with mild dementia and mild cognitive impairment introduces additional challenges. The CAREPATH project provides an integrated care platform to assist both healthcare professionals and patients and their informal caregivers in the day-to-day management of care plans for this patient population. This paper introduces an HL7 FHIR-based interoperability approach for exchanging care plan action and goals with the patients and collecting feedback and adherence information from patients. In this way, seamless information exchange between healthcare professionals, patients and their informal care givers is achieved to support patients in their self-care management journey and increase their adherence to their care plans despite the burdens of mild dementia.

Since increasing oil prices and vehicle costs increase transportation costs in order delivery systems, the optimal vehicle loading and routing is very crucial for the companies in competitive conditions. Although there are many studies related to optimal vehicle loading and routing by using linear programming and heuristic algorithms, there is not enough practical web service-based application in the literature. In this study, we propose a hybrid model to solve the problem of two-dimensional vehicle pallet loading with routing for a real-world data by combining Knapsack Problem solver algorithms such as MaxRects, Skyline and Guillotine with Dijkstra's algorithm for loading and routing respectively as a web service-based application.

This paper presents a key part of the design process of an e-health application for elderly patients in a home setting. It encompasses the key scenarios, use cases and the architecture consisting of system components, applications, and interfaces for supporting homecare of users with chronic health conditions. Care at home intends to provide health care at the same level and quality at the patient's home complementary to the work done in other health sectors. This paper presents a global overview of the design methodology in addition to depicting the different layers of the system and their components. This paper builds upon known requirements for homecare and serves as basis for the implementation of instances of such system.