Improving Science Attitude and Creative Thinking through Science Education Project: A Design, Implementation and Assessment

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of a science education project implemented in different learning environments on secondary school students’ creative thinking skills and their attitudes to science lesson. Within this scope, a total of 50 students who participated in the nature education project in Samsun City in 2014 make up the sample of the study. For this purpose, within the scope of a five-day long project, the students were presented with hands on activities, laboratory practices, outdoor practices, creative drama, planetarium and observatory activities to enable them to view science and nature from different views. The study was designed as one group, pre-test post-test experimental research. Attitudes scale towards Science lesson and Torrance Creative Thinking Test Verbal A-B forms were used as pre-test and post-test. In addition, open-ended interview form was used in order to find out the students’ views on the project. For the analysis of quantitative data, non-parametric tests Wilcoxon signed ranks test and Mann Whitney-U test were used while a parametric test, t-test for dependent and independent samples was used for creative thinking test scores. For qualitative data analysis, content analysis method was used. The results of the study showed that the project was effective in increasing the students’ attitudes towards the subject of science and their levels of creative thinking; at the same time it was found that using different learning environments attracted the students’ interests on learning science and affected them positively towards science

Homocystinuria and early onset schizophrenia: A case report

Şizofreni geç ergenlik veya erken erişkin hastalığı olarak bilinmesine karşın psikotik belirtiler çocuklarda da gözlenebilir. 17- 18 yaş öncesi başlayan şizofreni için “erken başlangıçlı şizofreni”, 13 yaş öncesi başlayanlar için ise de “çok erken başlangıçlı şizofreni” tanımlamaları kullanılmaktadır. Erken başlangıçlı şizofreninin tanımlanmasıyla birlikte bu olgularda organik etiyolojiye yönelik araştırmalar artmıştır ve serebral travma, enfeksiyonlar, demiyelinizan hastalıklar, endokrin bozukluklar, sistemik hastalıklar, vitamin eksiklikleri, ilaçlar, epilepsi, seks kromozomu anormallikleri ve Mendelian geçiş gösteren hastalıkların şizofreni benzeri klinik tablo oluşturabileceği saptanmıştır. Bu makalede klinik belirti örüntüsü değerlendirildiğinde erken başlangıçlı şizofreni tanısı almış ancak etiyolojik araştırma sonucu belirtilerin homosistinüriye bağlı geliştiği anlaşılan bir olgu sunulmaktadır.Although schizophrenia is known as a late adolescence or early adulthood disorder psychotic symptoms can be seen in children. Schizophrenia which begins before 17-18 years of age is named as “early onset schizophrenia” and before age of 13 is named as “very early onset schizophrenia”. Studies on organic etiology of schizophrenia were increased after the description of early onset schizophrenia. It was determined that cerebral trauma, infections, demyelinization diseases, endocrinopathies, systemic diseases, vitamin deficiencies, drugs, epilepsy, sex chromosome abnormalities, and diseases with Mendelian inheritance can cause clinical symptoms like schizophrenia. In this article a homocystinuria case which was diagnosed as early onset schizophrenia according to its onset is presented

The associations between endogenous oxytocin levels and emotion recognitio in bipolar disorder

Objective: Recent studies in patients with Bipolar Disorder (BD) have revealed problems in emotion recognition, specifically for negative emotions, which have been subsequently related to amygdala activity. Previously, the prosocial neuropeptide oxytocin has been shown to be one hormone that alters emotion perception capacities and modulates amygdala response. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to see if plasma oxytocin levels have specific effects on predicting emotion recognition patterns in BD. Methods: Twenty-eight remitted BD patients were recruited for this study and the Vienna Emotion Recognition Task was given. In addition, blood samples were collected for plasma oxytocin analysis. Results: Strong associations were found between fearful emotions and basal oxytocin levels, which were supported by a stepwise regression analysis. Patients with higher levels of basal oxytocin also exhibited greater recognition of fearful emotions. Conclusions: The relationship between recognition of fearful faces and individual endogenous oxytocin levels may contribute to explaining individual differences in social functioning and amygdala dysfunction in BD

Dünyada ve Türkiye’de tüketici finansman şirketleri ve uygulama örnekleri

Finansman şirketleri özel ve tüzel tüketicilere otomobilden iş ekipmanlarına, tıbbi malzemelerden ev araç-gereçlerine kadar çok geniş bir yelpazede kredi kullandıran kurumlardır. Batıda uzun bir geçmişe sahip olan bu şirketler binlerce küçük kredi ofisi ile tüketicilere direkt ulaşarak kredi kullandırmaktadırlar. Genelde üretici firmalar tarafından kurulan finansman şirketleri mevzuatları gereği mevduat toplayamadıklarından, fon kaynaklarının bir kısmını üretici firmadan, bir kısmını da para ve sermaye piyasasından sağlamaktadırlar.Tüketici bu tür kredileri, satın almak istediği malın bulunduğu satış noktasında temin eder. Tüketici ile satıcı arasında bir sözleşme yapıldıktan sonra finansman şirketi soz konusu malın bedelini satıcıya peşin olarak öder. Diğer taraftan, tüketici kredi geri ödemelerini finansman şirketine yapar. Ülkemizde finansman şirketleri yurt dışı uygulamalarından farklı olarak ürün satış bedelini kredilendirdikleri gibi hizmet sektörünü de kredilendirebilmektedir.ABSTRACTFinance companies grant consumer credits to real persons and legal entities for the purchase of goods in fields ranging from automotive to home and office equipments.Those instutions having a long history in the west, lent credits directly customers through litle credit offices. Finance companies are generally founded by producer companies. In accordance to the regulations governing them, they can not collect deposits and instead they obtain funding either from producer company or money and capital markets.Consumers obtain this kind of credit at the point of sale. After the contract signed between customer and dealer , finance companies transfer the price of goods to the dealer. On the other hand, consumers pay on an installment base on due days to the finance companies. In Turkey, different from western practices, finance companies not only finance the purchase of goods but also extend credits in services sector

Dünyada ve Türkiye’de tüketici finansman şirketleri ve uygulama örnekleri

Finansman şirketleri özel ve tüzel tüketicilere otomobilden iş ekipmanlarına, tıbbi malzemelerden ev araç-gereçlerine kadar çok geniş bir yelpazede kredi kullandıran kurumlardır. Batıda uzun bir geçmişe sahip olan bu şirketler binlerce küçük kredi ofisi ile tüketicilere direkt ulaşarak kredi kullandırmaktadırlar. Genelde üretici firmalar tarafından kurulan finansman şirketleri mevzuatları gereği mevduat toplayamadıklarından, fon kaynaklarının bir kısmını üretici firmadan, bir kısmını da para ve sermaye piyasasından sağlamaktadırlar. Tüketici bu tür kredileri, satın almak istediği malın bulunduğu satış noktasında temin eder. Tüketici ile satıcı arasında bir sözleşme yapıldıktan sonra finansman şirketi soz konusu malın bedelini satıcıya peşin olarak öder. Diğer taraftan, tüketici kredi geri ödemelerini finansman şirketine yapar. Ülkemizde finansman şirketleri yurt dışı uygulamalarından farklı olarak ürün satış bedelini kredilendirdikleri gibi hizmet sektörünü de kredilendirebilmektedir. ABSTRACT Finance companies grant consumer credits to real persons and legal entities for the purchase of goods in fields ranging from automotive to home and office equipments.Those instutions having a long history in the west, lent credits directly customers through litle credit offices. Finance companies are generally founded by producer companies. In accordance to the regulations governing them, they can not collect deposits and instead they obtain funding either from producer company or money and capital markets. Consumers obtain this kind of credit at the point of sale. After the contract signed between customer and dealer , finance companies transfer the price of goods to the dealer. On the other hand, consumers pay on an installment base on due days to the finance companies. In Turkey, different from western practices, finance companies not only finance the purchase of goods but also extend credits in services sector

Understanding social functioning in schizophrenia

Schizophrenien sind gekennzeichnet durch ein eingeschränktes psychosoziales Funktionsniveau, das durch die Schwere der Erkrankung, neurokognitive Störungen und sozial-kognitive Defizite beeinflusst wird. Diese Faktoren erklären jedoch nur einen gewissen Teil der Defizite im sozialen Funktionsniveau. Ziel dieser Arbeit war daher, die biosozialen Anteile sozialer Interaktion auf das soziale Funktionsniveau bei Patienten mit Schizophrenien näher zu charakterisieren. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass metakognitive Fähigkeiten zur Aufklärung der Varianz psychosozialer Fertigkeiten beitragen. Außerdem trägt die individuelle Stressreaktion dazu bei, bestimmte Teilaspekte des sozialen Funktionsniveaus zu erklären. Des Weiteren scheint Oxytozin eine Rolle bei der Emotionsverarbeitung zu spielen. Zusammenfassend können die Ergebnisse dazu beitragen, individualisierte Behandlungsstrategien für Patienten mit Schizophrenien zu entwickeln

On the effects of total productivity growth of economic freedom and total resource rents: The case of both natural resource rich and OECD countries

The focus of the paper is to analyse the relation between institutions on cross-country economic development in Natural Resource Rich countries and OECD countries. The paper emphasizes the effects of economic freedom that interacts with total resource rents on total factor productivity, covering 30 Natural Resource Rich, 34 OECD countries in dynamic panel data for the period of 2000-2013. Findings suggest that as economic freedom increases along with resource rents, total factor productivity increases for natural resource rich countries. The results are mixed for OECD countries

SYMPTOM DIMENSIONS, SMOKING AND IMPULSIVENESS IN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has distinct symptom dimensions with possibly subtle differences in the underlying neurobiology. One behavioral habit, smoking, has been widely investigated in psychiatric disorders, though received less attention in OCD. Here, we aimed to investigate the relationship between symptom dimensions and smoking behavior in OCD. Subjects and methods: OCD patients (n=167) with the symptom dimensions of washing, taboo thoughts and symmetry-countingrepeating- ordering (S+C+R+O) were questioned in terms of smoking status and assessed with the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 Items (HDRS-17), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS 11). Results: Smoking status differed significantly among patients with distinct symptom dimensions (p=0.009).The ratio of smokers was the lowest in those with the washing (30%, N=12) and the highest in the S+C+R+O (68.2%, N=15) group. Those with taboo thoughts had a smoking ratio of 37.14% (N=39). In post hoc analysis, smoking ratio was significantly higher in the S+C+R+O group than in those with washing symptoms (p=0,004) and taboo thoughts (p=0,007) though it did not differ significantly between washers and taboo thought groups. The BIS-11 did not differ across symptom dimensions. Conclusions: OCD is a heterogeneous disorder in terms of smoking. Impulsiveness, which does not significantly vary across distinct symptom dimensions, cannot explain this heterogeneity. The severity of addiction does not differ in smokers with OCD across symptom dimensions

SYMPTOM DIMENSIONS, SMOKING AND IMPULSIVENESS IN OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has distinct symptom dimensions with possibly subtle differences in the underlying neurobiology. One behavioral habit, smoking, has been widely investigated in psychiatric disorders, though received less attention in OCD. Here, we aimed to investigate the relationship between symptom dimensions and smoking behavior in OCD. Subjects and methods: OCD patients (n=167) with the symptom dimensions of washing, taboo thoughts and symmetry-countingrepeating- ordering (S+C+R+O) were questioned in terms of smoking status and assessed with the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-17 Items (HDRS-17), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale-11 (BIS 11). Results: Smoking status differed significantly among patients with distinct symptom dimensions (p=0.009).The ratio of smokers was the lowest in those with the washing (30%, N=12) and the highest in the S+C+R+O (68.2%, N=15) group. Those with taboo thoughts had a smoking ratio of 37.14% (N=39). In post hoc analysis, smoking ratio was significantly higher in the S+C+R+O group than in those with washing symptoms (p=0,004) and taboo thoughts (p=0,007) though it did not differ significantly between washers and taboo thought groups. The BIS-11 did not differ across symptom dimensions. Conclusions: OCD is a heterogeneous disorder in terms of smoking. Impulsiveness, which does not significantly vary across distinct symptom dimensions, cannot explain this heterogeneity. The severity of addiction does not differ in smokers with OCD across symptom dimensions

MULTIFRACTAL BEHAVIOUR IN NATURAL GAS PRICES BY USINGMF-DFA AND WTMM METHODS

We make a comparative study of Multifractal Detrended Fluctuation Analysis(MF-DFA) and the Wavelet Transform Modulus Maxima (WTMM) method todetect multifractal character of natural gas daily returns. We give a briefintroduction on above methods and comparetheir effectiveness. The results fromthis methodoligies show that behaviourof natural gas daily returns weremultifractal. The major sources of multifractality are long-range correlations ofsmall and large fluctuations and Fat-tail distributions of the series