The situation of French and German Teaching as a foreign language in Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman intellectuals and administrators underestimating Europe until Treaty of Karlowitz (1699), were considering the learning of a European language as an inferiority. Therefore, the international relations in the Ottoman State were carried out generally by non-Muslim dragomen. Sublime Porte (Bab-ı Ali) Foreign Language School and Ottoman Foreign Language School had been founded.  In addition to Arabic and Persian languages, French language took place firstly as a European language in the Ottoman education system. French became the first European language to be taught. The Turkish and French relations beginning in the XVIIth century and developing especially in the literature and cultural domain, continued well until XXth centuries. In the period of Sultan Abdulhamid II, Ottoman State made close relations with Germany rather than France and England.  The visit of the German emperor Wilhelm II to Istanbul upon the invitation of Ottoman Sultan and Baghdad Railway Project fortified the German-Turkish relations. The Young Turks coming to power after the Dethronement of Sultan Abdulhamid II  in 1908 had a great German admiration. During the First World War, the Ottoman and German relations in economical and political areas arrived to the culminating point.&nbsp

Development of a water quality index based on a European classification scheme

This study comprised the development of a new index called the ‘universal water quality index (UWQI)’. This index has advantages over pre-existing indices by reflecting the appropriateness of water for specific use, e.g. drinking water supply rather than general supply, and has been developed by studying the supranational standard, i.e. the European Community Standard. Three classification schemes for water quality are proposed for surface water quality assessment. Water quality determinants of the new index are cadmium, cyanide, mercury, selenium, arsenic, fluoride, nitrate-nitrogen, dissolved oxygen, biochemical oxygen demand, total phosphorus, pH and total coliform. The mathematical equations to transform the actual concentration values into quality indices have been formulated. The weighted sum method was proposed to obtain overall index scores based on individual index (sub-index) values. The application of the new index was demonstrated at a sampling station on Tahtali Reservoir in Turkey based on observed water quality data. Results revealed that the overall quality of the surface water falls under the ‘excellent’ class. On the other hand water quality was strongly affected by agricultural and domestic uses. This technique is believed to assist decision makers in reporting the state of the water quality, as well as investigating spatial and temporal changes. It is also useful to determine the level of acceptability for the individual parameter by referring to the concentration ranges defined in the proposed classification scheme

Use Of A Bacteriophage Cocktail In Combination With Modified Atmosphere Packaging To Control Escherichia Coli O157:H7 Contamination On Fresh-Cut Green Leafy Vegetables

The 2006 multi-state Escherichia coli O157:H7 (EHEC) outbreak linked to bagged spinach raised concerns about the safety of fresh produce. One novel approach to control foodborne pathogens is lytic bacteriophages, which does not affect the produce microflora. The objectives of this study were; 1) to test and verify the efficacy of a phage cocktail against EHEC in a laboratory medium, 2) to determine the effectiveness of the phage cocktail on fresh-cut leafy greens, and 3) to test and compare the effectiveness of the phage cocktail against EHEC on fresh-cut green leafy vegetables stored under air and modified air (low O2/high CO2) conditions. The efficacy of the phage cocktail was determined against a nalidixic acid resistant (NalR) EHEC strain in Tryptic Soy Broth (TSB). Next, pieces (~2x2 cm2) of leafy greens inoculated with 4.50 log EHEC NalR/cm2 and air-dried were sprayed with 6.50 log phage cocktail/cm2. Samples were stored at 4 or 10°C for 15 days under atmospheric or modified (5% O2/35% CO2/60% N2) air. The recovered EHECs were enumerated on MacConkey agar supplemented with 25 μg/ml Nal. Phage treatment resulted in 6 log reduction (P\u3c0.05) of EHEC NalR in TSB. At 4°C under air, the phage cocktail significantly (P\u3c0.05) lowered the EHEC NalR counts in one day by 1.19, 3.21, and 3.25 log units on spinach, green leaf, and romaine lettuce, respectively. When stored under modified atmosphere, the reductions in EHEC NalR concentrations were 2.18, 3.50, and 3.13 logs. At 10°C, EHEC reductions under air were 1.99, 3.90, and 3.99 logs, and under modified air were 3.08, 3.89, and 4.34 logs on spinach, green leaf, and romaine lettuce, respectively. The results of this study suggest that bacteriophages may be used successfully for controlling/reducing pathogenic bacterial presence and/or growth on fresh produce stored under modified atmosphere packaging

Cooling Water Discharge Impacts to an Ephemeral Stream: a Heat Transport Modeling Study

Integrated Modeling of Hydro-System

Cardiovascular Surgery Patients' Preferences for Clothing Style in their Physicians and Patient- Physician Relations

Aim: In this study, it was aimed to determine the relationship between the clothing style of physicians providing service in the Cardiovascular Surgery (CVS) clinic and patients' physician preferences.Methods: This cross-sectional and descriptive study was carried out with 250 patients who would undergo open-heart surgery in the CVS clinic of a training and research hospital in Istanbul between April and August 2017. Data were obtained using the questionnaire form including questions about clothing preferences and their effects on patient-physician relations by showing the pictures of different clothing styles of both male and female physicians (classic, white coat, sport, uniform). In the data analysis, descriptive statistics (frequency, percentage, mean), as well as the chi-square test for comparisons between the groups, were used.Results: The average age of the participants was 55.37±14.33 years, and 55.2% of them were male. It was determined that white coat was the most preferred clothing style for CVS physicians. Younger patients compared to older patients, and male patients compared to female patients stated that they mostly wanted their physicians to wear a white coat during a routine physical examination and while sharing their private matters.Conclusion: Patients stated that they preferred CVS physicians to primarily wear a white coat. For this reason, the white coat may positively affect patient-physician relations and may help a physician in making a good impression

Effect of a bacteriophage cocktail in combination with modified atmosphere packaging in controlling Listeria monocytogenes on fresh-cut spinach

peer-reviewedA Listeria monocytogenes-specific bacteriophage cocktail was evaluated for its activity against a nalidixic acid-resistant L. monocytogenes (Lm-NalR) isolate on fresh-cut spinach stored under modified atmosphere packaging at various temperatures. Pieces (~2 × 2 cm2) of fresh spinach inoculated with 4.5 log CFU/cm2 Lm-NalR were sprayed with the phage cocktail (6.5 log plaque-forming units [PFU]/cm2) or a control. The samples were stored at 4°C or 10°C for up to 14 d in sealed packages filled with either atmospheric air (AA) or modified atmosphere (MA). At 4°C under AA, the phages significantly (P ≤ 0.05) lowered the Lm-NalR populations on spinach, compared to control-treated inoculated samples, by 1.12 and 1.51 log CFU/cm2 after 1 and 14 d, respectively. At 4°C under MA, Lm-NalR was significantly reduced by 1.95 log CFU/cm2 compared to control leaves after both 1 and 14 d. At 10°C under AA, the phages significantly reduced Lm-NalR by 1.50 and 2.51 log CFU/cm2 after 1 and 14 d compared to the control. Again at 10°C under MA, the phages significantly reduced Lm-NalR by 1.71 and 3.24 log CFU/cm2 compared to control after 1 and 14 d, respectively. The results support the potential of lytic bacteriophages in effectively reducing populations of L. monocytogenes on freshcut leafy produce, under both AA and MA conditions.National Institute of Food and Agriculture of the US Department of Agriculture (project #NCX-2007-03435)