The Fiscal Burden of the Legacy of the Civil Service Pension Systems in Northern Cyprus

This paper estimates the fiscal burden of the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) civil service pension systems that were closed in 2008 to new members in North Cyprus. At that time, a new pension system was introduced for the newly hired government employees and new private sector workers. Estimates are made of the difference between the present values of future contributions and the pension benefits. This approach measures the government’s net liabilities related to the accruals of the pension rights received by the individuals covered through these plans for the period from 2009 to the death of the last member in the system. The estimated unfunded cost of these civil service pension plans is 7.3 billion euros or 276% of GDP. This amount of implicit debt is significantly higher than 5.8 billion euros that has been estimated as the amount of cash compensation for land and property that would need to be paid in order to reach an agreement for a solution to the Cyprus conflict.civil service pensions, pension liabilities, implicit pension debt, pension indexing, North Cyprus

Creep Evaluation of (Orthotic) Cast Materials During Simulated Clubfoot Correction

The Ponseti method is a widely accepted and highly successful conservative treatment of pediatric clubfoot that relies on weekly manipulations and cast applications. However, the material behavior of the cast in the Ponseti technique has not been investigated. The current study sought to characterize the ability of two standard casting materials to maintain the Ponseti corrected foot position by evaluating creep response. A dynamic cast testing device (DCTD) was built to simulate a typical pediatric clubfoot. Semi-rigid fiberglass and rigid fiberglass casting materials were applied to the device, and the rotational creep was measured at various constant torques. The movement was measured using a 3D motion capture system. A 2-way ANOVA was performed on the creep displacement data at a significance level of 0.05. Among cast materials, the rotational creep displacement was found to be significantly different (p-values ≪ 0.001). The most creep displacement occurs in the semi-rigid fiberglass (approximately 1.0 degrees), then the rigid fiberglass (approximately 0.4 degrees). There was no effect of torque magnitude on the creep displacement. All materials maintained the corrected position with minimal change in position over time

Seasonal and Interannual Variability of Water Exchange in the Strait of Istanbul

Temperature and salinity distribution and volume fluxes through the Strait of Istanbul were analysed using long-term monthly time series of temperature-salinity (1996-2010) and current profiles (1999-2010) collected at both ends of the strait. While annual cycle of the upper layer temperature, with minima in February and maxima in August, reflects the influence of air temperature with a near monthly phase shift, annual cycle of the upper layer salinity, with lowest values observed between April to September, is mostly affected by river discharge into the Western Black Sea. The seasonal variations of the lower layer temperature and salinity in the Strait of Istanbul are mostly influenced by flow blockages. Inversely proportional upper and lower layer volume fluxes indicate strong seasonal variations with minimum and maximum values in April and October, respectively. Annual average upper and lower layer volume fluxes calculated from the high resolution dataset are 404 km3 y-1 and 250 km3 y-1 at the north end, and 430 km3 y-1 and 245 km3 y-1 at the south end of the strait, respectively

Approximate Analysis of Production Systems

In this paper complex production systems are studied where a single product is manufactured and where each production unit stores its output in at most one buffer and receives its input from at most one buffer. The production units and the buffers may be connected nearly arbitrarily. The buffers are supposed to be of finite capacity and the goods flow is continuous. For such netwroks it is possible to estimate the throughput by applying repeated aggregation over the production units. The approximation appears to be best when the network shows some resemblance with a flow line

Seasonal variation of the cold intermediate water in the Southwestern Black Sea and its interaction with the Sea of Marmara during the period of 1996-1998

Seasonal variations of the cold intermediate water (CIW) in the southwestern Black Sea and its entrance into the Strait of Istanbul (Bosphorus) within the upper layer flow have been studied by using monthly oceanographic data sets collected in 1996-1998 period. In addition, the advection of the CIW via Strait Of Istanbul to the Sea of Marmara has been investigated.The CIW is a permanent and characteristic water mass of the Black Sea, markedly observed in the northwestern Black Sea. It is transported with the Rim Current along the boundary of the basin. The average temperature of the CIW is about 6o C. The 8oC isotherms defines its upper and lower boundaries. The upper boundary of CIW rises up to the 20 m depth in the shelf and coastal upwelling regions with a thickness of 40 m. On the other hand, the depth of the upper boundary may decrease down to 40 m with a thickness of 120 m in the anticyclonic regions.The CIW, located between 30 and 65m depths, was observed from April to September at the northern approaches of the Strait of Istanbul in the Black Sea. However, the CIW, within the Black Sea's upper layer flow, does not enter into the strait in the beginning (April, May) and at the end (September) of this period. The CIW between 20 and 50m water depths was observed in the northern entrance of the strait in summer (June, July and August) and it was carried into the strait by the southbound surface current. Its temperature increases southwards along the strait, due to the mixing with the warmer surface and bottom layers. This increment ranges between 2 and 4oC depending on the rate of mixing. The physically altered waters enter the Sea of Marmara with temperature of 11-14oC.In the Sea of Marmara, a residual cold intermediate layer (CIL) is observed in summer, it is just placed on top of the halocline. The average temperature of the upper layer increases from spring to autumn. In some months, however, there is a decrement in the average temperature of the upper layer. The altered CIW waters entering the Sea of Marmara may be responsible for this cooling

Long-term Follow Up of Van Nes Rotationplasty for Proximal Focal Femoral Deficiency

Proximal focal femoral deficiency (PFFD) is a congenital anomaly that presents challenges for orthopaedic and prosthetic management. The Van Nes rotationplasty is one treatment in which the extremity is surgically rotated to utilize the ankle and foot as a functional knee joint in a prosthesis. The purpose of this study is to determine the long-term functional and quality of life (QOL) outcomes for individuals who have undergone rotationplasty surgery for congenital PFFD compared to age and gender matched controls

Long-term Follow up of Van Nes Rotationplasty for Congenital Proximal Focal Femoral Deficiency [Proceedings]

INTRODUCTIONProximal focal femoral deficiency (PFFD) is a congenital anomaly that presents challenges for orthopaedic and prosthetic management. The Van Nes rotationplasty is one treatment in which the extremity is surgically rotated to utilize the ankle and foot as a functional knee joint in a prosthesis. The purpose of this study is to determine the long-term functional and quality of life (QOL) outcomes for individuals who have undergone rotationplasty surgery for congenital PFFD compared to age and gender matched controls. METHODSThis prospective study had 12 prosthetic participants (PFFD Group: 8 M, 4F, age range 16-57 years) average 31.6±13.5 years and 12 control participants (Control Group: 8M, 4F) with an average age 32.6±14.1 years. Participants completed the following outcome questionnaires: SF-36, Revised-Faces Pain Scale, Harris Hip Score, Oswestry back pain score; and underwent lower extremity range of motion (ROM), hand held dynamometry, gait analysis, computerized dynamic posturography and Timed ‘Up& Go’ (TUG) testing. The PFFD Group also completed the Prosthetic Evaluation Questionnaire© (PEQ). The Wilcoxon Signed rank test was used to statistically compare each PFFD Group participant to the matched Control Group participant with values statistically significant at p\u3c 0.0123. RESULTSParticipants had rotationplasty performed at an average age of 6.5±3.9 years with follow up testing done 25.1±11.2 years later. All adult subjects were working full time in a variety of manual and office/desk jobs. No significant issues were seen for body image. Pain: The PFFD and Control Groups both reported similar low back pain with 6.8±9.7% and 7.0±13.0% disability respectively on the Oswestry back pain questionnaire. On the day of testing, only one PFFD participant reported mild low back pain on the Revised- Faces Pain Scale. The average Harris Hip Score for the PFFD Group was 92.7±9.2 out of 100, indicating excellent outcome. Two participants reported pain on their non-prosthetic hip. ROM: The PFFD Group showed significantly decreased hip flexion and ankle dorsiflexion, and increased ankle plantarflexion strength on the prosthetic side compared to the Control Group. The PFFD Group had significantly greater ankle abduction strength on their non-prosthetic side compared to the Control Group. Strength: The PFFD Group demonstrated significantly weaker hip flexion, hip abduction and ankle plantarflexion on the prosthetic side compared to the Control Group. TUG: The PFFD Group scored an average of 8.5±1.6 seconds on the TUG, demonstrating a low fall risk. The Control Group scored significantly lower with an average of 6.5 ±1.0 seconds. SF-36: There were no significant differences between the groups in overall health and well-being. PEQ©: The PFFD Group scored lower in areas of satisfaction, appearance, and sounds of the prosthesis. However, participants reported that others perceived them well and they did not see themselves as a social burden. Gait Analysis: Temporal-spatial gait parameters for the PFFD Group demonstrated significant decrease in cadence, stride time, opposite foot off, single support and walking speed compared to Control Group. Posturography: The PFFD Group showed significant decrease in symmetry in stance, as well as a decrease in end point and maximum excursion in limits of stability testing compared to the Control Group. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONOverall, long-term follow up of teens and adults who underwent Van Nes rotationplasty showed that they maintained a high level of function, participation and QOL. They did present with significant differences in temporal spatial and posturography parameters compared to the Control Group

Segmental Kinematic Analysis of Planovalgus Feet during Walking in Children with Cerebral Palsy

Pes planovalgus (flatfoot) is a common deformity among children with cerebral palsy. The Milwaukee Foot Model (MFM), a multi-segmental kinematic foot model, which uses radiography to align the underlying bony anatomy with reflective surface markers, was used to evaluate 20 pediatric participants (30 feet) with planovalgus secondary to cerebral palsy prior to surgery. Three-dimensional kinematics of the tibia, hindfoot, forefoot, and hallux segments are reported and compared to an age-matched control set of typically-developing children. Most results were consistent with known characteristics of the deformity and showed decreased plantar flexion of the forefoot relative to hindfoot, increased forefoot abduction, and decreased ranges of motion during push-off in the planovalgus group. Interestingly, while forefoot characteristics were uniformly distributed in a common direction in the transverse plane, there was marked variability of forefoot and hindfoot coronal plane and hindfoot transverse plane positioning. The key finding of these data was the radiographic indexing of the MFM was able to show flat feet in cerebral palsy do not always demonstrate more hindfoot eversion than the typically-developing hindfoot. The coronal plane kinematics of the hindfoot show cases planovalgus feet with the hindfoot in inversion, eversion, and neutral. Along with other metrics, the MFM can be a valuable tool for monitoring kinematic deformity, facilitating clinical decision making, and providing a quantitative analysis of surgical effects on the planovalgus foot

DWReCO at CheckThat! 2023: Enhancing Subjectivity Detection through Style-based Data Sampling

This paper describes our submission for the subjectivity detection task at the CheckThat! Lab. To tackle class imbalances in the task, we have generated additional training materials with GPT-3 models using prompts of different styles from a subjectivity checklist based on journalistic perspective. We used the extended training set to fine-tune language-specific transformer models. Our experiments in English, German and Turkish demonstrate that different subjective styles are effective across all languages. In addition, we observe that the style-based oversampling is better than paraphrasing in Turkish and English. Lastly, the GPT-3 models sometimes produce lacklustre results when generating style-based texts in non-English languages.Comment: Accepted to CLEF CheckThat! La