Learning platform for smoking cessation project: From begining to date

Although 35% of the adults in Turkey are current smokers, the number of trained physicians and smoking cessation (SC) clinics are not enough to meet the demand. Aim: This national project aimed to create the necessary infrastructure for providing SC therapy all-around the country and to train physicians in this topic. This project was run by Turkish Thoracic Society Tobacco Working Group and supported by a grant from Pfizer Foundation. Methods: For this purpose, an organization network including field training teams was planned. The training materials were prepared and standardized. A website of the project including a wide e-learning platform was created (www.sigarabirakmadaogrenmezemini.org). Results: Firstly, a central training program was planned. Forty volunteers from all regions of Turkey were participated to this program. Afterwards, field training programs were started to perform by these trainers. From the beginning field training sessions were performed in 11 cities with more than 300 participants. The project website was visited by 10.369 visitors and 518 participants completed e-training module since April 2011. Conclusion: The SÖZ project enabled a training ground that will last for years; a professional website and a trainer staff to generalize the program. Through this project, the integration of SC intervention in all health service steps will be provided, the number of SC clinics in Turkey will increase, and in future smoking rate will reduce in our country

Mekanda ve zamanda değişiklik gösteren meteorolojik yağış parametresinin Türkiye üzerinde analiz ve modellenmesi

As precipitation is the very important parameter of climate and hydrology, exploring spatial and temporal distribution and variation of this variable can give an idea about climate conditions and water resources in the future. Therefore accurate mapping of the temporal, spatial and space-time distributions of precipitation is important for many applications in hydrology, climatology, agronomy, ecology and other environmental sciences. In this thesis, temporal, spatial and space-time distributions and variations of total annual and long term annual precipitation of Turkey are analyzed. Main data source of thesis is point observations of monthly precipitation at meteorological stations and spatially exhaustive covariate data sets. These are elevation, surface roughness, distance to coast, river density, aspect, land use and eco-region. T-Test and Mann-Kendal tests are used to infer temporal trend of seasonal and annual precipitation observations of Turkey. Multiple linear regression (MLR), Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR), Ordinary Kriging (OK), Regression Kriging (RK) and Universal Kriging (UK) are applied to define spatial distribution and variation of long term annual precipitation observations of Turkey. For the spatio-temporal part of the study Space-time Ordinary Kriging and Space-time Universal Kriging methods are applied to total annual precipitation observations of Euphrates Basin, which is the largest basin in Turkey. Comparison of interpolation methods are made with ten-fold cross-validation methodology. Accuracy assessment is done by calculating the Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE), R-square (r2) and Standardized MSE (SMSE) for spatial interpolation. According to these criteria, Universal Kriging is the most accurate with an RMSE of 178 mm, an R-square of 0.61 and an SMSE of 1.06, while Multiple Linear Regression performed worst (RMSE of 222 mm, R-square of 0.39, and SMSE of 1.44). Ordinary Kriging, UK using only elevation and Geographically Weighted Regression are intermediate with RMSE values of 201 mm, 212 mm and 211 mm, and an R-square of 0.50, 0.44 and 0.45, respectively. The RK results are close to those of UK with an RMSE of 186 mm and R-square of 0.57. For space-time interpolation R-square, RMSE and ME methods are used for accuracy assessment. Space-time Ordinary kriging has yielded more accurate prediction results than Space-time Universal kriging with R-square of 0.86, RMSE of 75 mm and ME of 57 mm.Ph.D. - Doctoral Progra

The virtual world's current addiction: phubbing

The aim of this work is to analyze both the reasons that young adults exhibit phubbing behaviors and the effects of these behaviors on their lives. Following a qualitative research approach, this study has been designed using a case study method. Selected using the criterion sampling method, participants consisted of a total of 9 university students studying in a School of Education in Turkey. The criterion used to include individuals into the sample group was 'using a smartphone instead of actively participating in an on-going discussion being had by one's surrounding peers' as well as a high score on the Phubbing Scale form. Data were obtained using a semi-structured interview form composed of 18 open-ended questions. Both a descriptive and content analysis were used to evaluate the data. The study's findings revealed that not only did smartphones negatively affect interpersonal relations, but also that phubbers lacked communication skills, experienced difficulty establishing and maintaining eye contact while using a smartphone, and misunderstood what was being discussed. Some participants even stated that they would become completely disconnected from the social environment while using a smartphone. It is argued in the discussion section that since smartphones have all the same features and abilities as traditional computers, they carry the same potential addictions as computers. Yet, instead of being restricted to a table, these addictions are now able to manifest in every aspect, environment, and moment of one's life. As such, since phubbing carries with it a type of addiction that is much more devious and pervasion than most previous virtual reality related addictions, it is recommended that further research be conducted before serious psychopathological and sociological problems begin to manifest themselves throughout the population