Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in Turkey and an Analysis in the Context of Turkish Higher Education

Open and distance learning has evolved on the basis of openness philosophy in education and benefited from various approaches to this philosophy. Different MOOC platforms have emerged in Turkey as a reflection of these developments. The main purpose of this study is to examine MOOCs in the context of Turkish higher education. For this purpose, by adopting the qualitative embedded single case design, the Akadema, AtademiX and Bilge Is MOOC platforms were examined. The findings indicate that MOOCs successfully serve the universal ideals such as offering equal opportunities in education, democratization of education, and liberation of knowledge in Turkey. Besides, MOOCs were found to contribute to adapting to the changes paralleling the transformations in the globalizing world and in the digital knowledge age; strengthening communication and cooperation channels between the society, industry and university; and finally, fostering social justice with an inclusive approach by increasing operational capabilities in diverse educational domains

Expert heuristic collaborative approach for usability testing in a mooc portal

Despite the widespread use of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) in online learning, the usability of MOOC portals remains a major challenge. While expert heuristic evaluation principles have been proposed as a potential solution to usability problems, there is a lack of research on the effectiveness of these principles in a real-life and big-size project context. This case study examines the usability test process derived from expert heuristic evaluation principles within a national MOOC portal context and identifies how a collaborative approach can be used to enhance the effectiveness of usability testing. Since MOOCs meet the needs of the learners by keeping the investment to a minimum and creating close links to user interaction, we, as instructional designers, experienced a continuous and sequentially usability test process from the beginning of the design stage tests of 100 MOOCs to the end-user test phases. That’s why the mainly expert heuristic and collaborative approach (EHCA) is used for finding the usability problems in an iterative design process as Nielsen emphasized. Between 2015-2017, a distinctive, ongoing procedure based on immediate feedback and reliability was performed by both instructional designers (n=8), online learning experts (n=4), quality assurance testers (n=4) and end users (n=10) through Nielsen's major test components (learnability, efficiency, memorability, errors, and satisfaction). The test documents were collected, semi-structured interviews were done, testing processes were observed throughout the MOOC portal creation process, and the “collaborative approach” focusing on more expert collaboration and gradual evaluation, immediate feedback, and revised test procedure, and more prototypes and fewer problems were embraced. This approach which answers the question of “how to make a more effective evaluation of the usability of the MOOC portal” can be considered a prototype of a structure that can give new design suggestions over the years. One of the contributions of the study can be summarized as providing the relationships between the expert heuristic and collaborative approach with real-life and big-size project evidence. So, the implications made for theory and practice have the potential to make critical contributions to the usability test process. Hence, in this study, we tried to offer a flexible and collaborative usability testing process with expert team members and several methods to minimize the effort and time for testing by always dealing with the usability problems of MOOC portals during the process. Therefore, the outputs of this study can be beneficial to various MOOC portals or any kind of online learning platform in terms of sustainability and efficiency

Assessment of free-radical scavenging activity of Gypsophila pilulifera: assay-guided isolation of verbascoside as the main active component

WOS: 000336187800005Gypsophila pilulifera, Boiss & Heldr, Caryophyllaceae, is a perennial medicinal herb that grows in the-southwestern region of Turkey. Except for only one report on the isolation-of cytotoxic. saponins from the underground parts of G. pilulifera, there are no published thorough phytochemical or bioactivity studies on this specie. In the present study; the free-radical Scavenging activity of extracts and fractions of the-stems of G. pilulifera was evaluated, using a. slightly modified and more-precise-version of the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DRPH) assay, :reported here for the first time. The DPPH assay-guided HPLC-PDA-purification of the active solid-phase extraction fraction (50% methanol in water) of the methanolic-extract exhibited verbascoside as the main free-radical Scavenger present in this species. The structure of this active compound was resolved by spectroscopy, and the free-radical scavenging potential of verbascoside was determined. (C) 2014 Sociedade Brasileira. de Farmacognosia. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

The prevalence of endometrioma and associated malignant transformation in women over 40 years of age

Objective: Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent chronic disease. which is regarded as a disease of reproductive-aged women. Endometriosis is most frequently diagnosed during reproductive period. We aimed to determine the frequency of endometrioma in women over 40 years of age who were operated for adnexial mass

FLAVONOIDS AND BIOLOGICAL ACTIVITIES OF CENTAUREA NERIMANIAE S. KULTUR

Centaurea nerimaniae S. Kultur, an endemic species from the Turkish flora, distributed in south Anatolia (Icel Province) was investigated for its flavonoids and in vitro antioxidant, anti-cholinergic, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities. The phytochemical investigation of the plant led to the isolation of five flavonoids, identified as cirsimaritin, hispidulin, apigenin, isokaempferide and apigenin 7-O-glucoside. In addition to its ability to inhibit AChE and lipid peroxidation, induced by Fe3+/ascorbate system, scavenge DPPH radicals, and to reduce Fe3+ to Fe2+, the extract showed strong COX-1 and COX-2 inhibitory and antimicrobial activities, suggesting that this plant could act as an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agent against disorders, associated with oxidative damage, as well as an effective phytotherapeutic agent against some fungal and bacterial diseases

EVALUATION OF ANTIMICROBIAL AND CYTOTOXIC EFFECTS OF FOUR TURKISH SPECIES OF ERYNGIUM L.

The antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects of various endemic and non-endemic Eryngium species from Turkey were investigated. Nine endemic and two non-endemic Eryngium species were analyzed using a microdilution assay for their antibacterial and antifungal activities. Cytotoxic activities of E. pseudothoriifolium, E. thorifolium, E. davisii, and E. falcatum, on prostate carcinoma and endometrial cancer cells were analyzed by cytotoxic activity assay. It was observed that 16 out of 22 extracts (aerial or root part) showed antibacterial activities. Fifteen out of 22 extracts showed antifungal activity with the lowest MIC (156 mg/l) value against Candida albicans ATCC 10231 and C. tropicalis ATCC 750. Aerial parts of E. pseudothoriifolium, E. thorifolium, E. davisii, and E. falcatum exhibited cytotoxic effects on endometrial cancer cells. This evaluation of tested endemic Eryngium species' antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities is the first of its kind

Evaluation of antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects of four turkish species of eryngium L.

© 2019 Bangladesh Botanical Society. All rights reserved.The antimicrobial and cytotoxic effects of various endemic and non-endemic Eryngium species from Turkey were investigated. Nine endemic and two non-endemic Eryngium species were analyzed using a microdilution assay for their antibacterial and antifungal activities. Cytotoxic activities of E. pseudothoriifolium, E. thorifolium, E. davisii, and E. falcatum, on prostate carcinoma and endometrial cancer cells were analyzed by cytotoxic activity assay. It was observed that 16 out of 22 extracts (aerial or root part) showed antibacterial activities. Fifteen out of 22 extracts showed antifungal activity with the lowest MIC (156 mg/l) value against Candida albicans ATCC 10231 and C. tropicalis ATCC 750. Aerial parts of E. pseudothoriifolium, E. thorifolium, E. davisii, and E. falcatum exhibited cytotoxic effects on endometrial cancer cells. This evaluation of tested endemic Eryngium species' antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities is the first of its kind

Multi-institutional validation of the ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO consensus conference risk grouping in Turkish endometrial cancer patients treated with comprehensive surgical staging

In this study, 683 patients with endometrial cancer (EC) after comprehensive surgical staging were classified into four risk groups as low (LR), intermediate (IR), high-intermediate (HIR) and high-risk (HR), according to the recent consensus risk grouping. Patients with disease confined to the uterus, ≥50% myometrial invasion (MI) and/or grade 3 histology were treated with vaginal brachytherapy (VBT). Patients with stage II disease, positive/close surgical margins or extra-uterine extension were treated with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT)±VBT. The median follow-up was 56 months. The overall survival (OS) was significantly different between LR and HR groups, and there was a trend between LR and HIR groups. Relapse-free survival (RFS) was significantly different between LR and HIR, LR and HR and IR and HR groups. There was no significant difference in OS and RFS rates between the HIR and HR groups. In HR patients, the OS and RFS rates were significantly higher in stage IB – grade 3 and stage II compared to stage III and non-endometrioid histology without any difference between the two uterine-confined stages and between stage III and non-endometrioid histology. The current risk grouping does not clearly discriminate the HIR and IR groups. In patients with comprehensive surgical staging, a further risk grouping is needed to distinguish the real HR group.Impact statement What is already known on this subject? The standard treatment for endometrial cancer (EC) is surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy (RT) and/or chemotherapy is recommended according to risk factors. The recent European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO), European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) and European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology (ESTRO) guideline have introduced a new risk group. However, the risk grouping is still quite heterogeneous. What do the results of this study add? This study demonstrated that the current risk grouping recommended by ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO does not clearly discriminate the intermediate risk (IR) and high-intermediate risk (HIR) groups. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? Based on the results of this study, a new risk grouping can be made to discriminate HIR and IR groups clearly in patients with comprehensive surgical staging

An observational, prospective, multicenter study on rescue high-frequency oscillatory ventilation in neonates failing with conventional ventilation.

BackgroundTo achieve gas exchange goals and mitigate lung injury, infants who fail with conventional ventilation (CV) are generally switched to high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV). Although preferred in many neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), research on this type of rescue HFOV has not been reported recently.MethodsAn online registry database for a multicenter, prospective study was set to evaluate factors affecting the response of newborn infants to rescue HFOV treatment. The study population consisted of 372 infants with CV failure after at least 4 hours of treatment in 23 participating NICUs. Patients were grouped according to their final outcome as survived (Group S) or as died or received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) (Group D/E). Patients' demographic characteristics and underlying diseases in addition to their ventilator settings, arterial blood gas (ABG) analysis results at 0, 1, 4, and 24 hours, type of device, ventilation duration, and complications were compared between groups.ResultsHFOV as rescue treatment was successful in 58.1% of patients. Demographic and treatment parameters were not different between groups, except that infants in Group D/E had lower birthweight (BW) (1655 ± 1091 vs. 1858 ± 1027 g, p = 0.006), a higher initial FiO2 setting (83% vs. 72%, p 7.065 (OR: 19.74, 95% CI 4.83-80.6, p 16.35 mmol/L (OR: 1.06, 95% CI 1.01-1.1, p = 0.006), and lactate level 0.05).ConclusionRescue HFOV as defined for this population was successful in more than half of the patients with CV failure. Although the response was not associated with gestational age, underlying disease, device used, or initial MV settings, it seemed to be more effective in patients with higher BW and those not requiring nitric oxide. Initial pH, HCO3, and lactate levels on ABG may be used as predictors of a response to rescue HFOV