El efecto del favoritismo en las competencias de los empleados en la industria hotelera: papel mediador del silencio de los empleados

This study aims to examine the effect of favouritism on competencies through employee silence. The phenomenon of employee silence has been defined as a mediating variable that is affected by favouritism, and which affects employee competencies. Data collected from 420 employees working in hotels in the Thrace Region based on a face-to-face survey method were used to test the research hypotheses with partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results reveal that favouritism is an obstacle that causes employee silence and, more importantly, reduces the competencies of employees, as they are not treated fairly in terms of their skills, experience, knowledge, and abilities. In addition, it may be concluded that employee silence is a factor that directly reduces competencies. While there is some discussion about the possible impacts of obstacles such as favouritism and employee silence on competencies, it can be observed that there are few studies that address their relationship separately. This research is among the first to empirically reveal employee silence as the mediator between favouritism practices and employee competencies, expanding the understanding of how silence can work as a mediator in the hospitality businesses.Este estudio tiene como objetivo examinar el efecto del favoritismo en las competencias a través del silencio de los empleados. El fenómeno del silencio de los empleados se definió como una variable mediadora que se ve afectada por el favoritismo y que afecta las competencias de los empleados. Los datos recopilados de 420 empleados que trabajan en hoteles en la región de Tracia a través del método de encuesta cara a cara se utilizaron para probar las hipótesis de investigación con modelos de ecuaciones estructurales de mínimos cuadrados parciales (PLS-SEM). Los resultados revelaron que el favoritismo es un obstáculo que provoca el silencio de los empleados y, lo que es más importante, reduce las competencias de los empleados, ya que los empleados no son tratados de manera justa en términos de sus habilidades, experiencia, conocimientos y habilidades. Además, se concluyó que el silencio de los empleados es un factor que reduce directamente las competencias. Si bien existen algunas discusiones sobre los posibles impactos de obstáculos como el favoritismo y el silencio de los empleados sobre las competencias, se observó que existen pocos estudios que aborden su relación por separado. Esta investigación es una de las primeras en revelar empíricamente el silencio de los empleados como mediador entre las prácticas de favoritismo y las competencias de los empleados, lo que amplía la comprensión de cómo el silencio puede funcionar como mediador en el sector hotelero

The effect of favouritism on employee competencies in the hotel industry: Mediating role of employee silence

This study aims to examine the effect of favouritism on competencies through employee silence. The phenomenon of employee silence has been defined as a mediating variable that is affected by favouritism, and which affects employee competencies. Data collected from 420 employees working in hotels in the Thrace Region based on a face-to-face survey method were used to test the research hypotheses with partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results reveal that favouritism is an obstacle that causes employee silence and, more importantly, reduces the competencies of employees, as they are not treated fairly in terms of their skills, experience, knowledge, and abilities. In addition, it may be concluded that employee silence is a factor that directly reduces competencies. While there is some discussion about the possible impacts of obstacles such as favouritism and employee silence on competencies, it can be observed that there are few studies that address their relationship separately. This research is among the first to empirically reveal employee silence as the mediator between favouritism practices and employee competencies, expanding the understanding of how silence can work as a mediator in the hospitality businesses

Wisdom of the Contexts: Active Ensemble Learning for Contextual Anomaly Detection

In contextual anomaly detection (CAD), an object is only considered anomalous within a specific context. Most existing methods for CAD use a single context based on a set of user-specified contextual features. However, identifying the right context can be very challenging in practice, especially in datasets, with a large number of attributes. Furthermore, in real-world systems, there might be multiple anomalies that occur in different contexts and, therefore, require a combination of several "useful" contexts to unveil them. In this work, we leverage active learning and ensembles to effectively detect complex contextual anomalies in situations where the true contextual and behavioral attributes are unknown. We propose a novel approach, called WisCon (Wisdom of the Contexts), that automatically creates contexts from the feature set. Our method constructs an ensemble of multiple contexts, with varying importance scores, based on the assumption that not all useful contexts are equally so. Experiments show that WisCon significantly outperforms existing baselines in different categories (i.e., active classifiers, unsupervised contextual and non-contextual anomaly detectors, and supervised classifiers) on seven datasets. Furthermore, the results support our initial hypothesis that there is no single perfect context that successfully uncovers all kinds of contextual anomalies, and leveraging the "wisdom" of multiple contexts is necessary.Comment: Submitted to IEEE TKD

Screening for Alzheimer's disease using prefrontal resting-state functional near-infrared spectroscopy

IntroductionAlzheimer's disease (AD) is neurodegenerative dementia that causes neurovascular dysfunction and cognitive impairment. Currently, 50 million people live with dementia worldwide, and there are nearly 10 million new cases every year. There is a need for relatively less costly and more objective methods of screening and early diagnosis. MethodsFunctional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) systems are a promising solution for the early Detection of AD. For a practical clinically relevant system, a smaller number of optimally placed channels are clearly preferable. In this study, we investigated the number and locations of the best-performing fNIRS channels measuring prefrontal cortex activations. Twenty-one subjects diagnosed with AD and eighteen healthy controls were recruited for the study. ResultsWe have shown that resting-state fNIRS recordings from a small number of prefrontal locations provide a promising methodology for detecting AD and monitoring its progression. A high-density continuous-wave fNIRS system was first used to verify the relatively lower hemodynamic activity in the prefrontal cortical areas observed in patients with AD. By using the episode averaged standard deviation of the oxyhemoglobin concentration changes as features that were fed into a Support Vector Machine; we then showed that the accuracy of subsets of optical channels in predicting the presence and severity of AD was significantly above chance. The results suggest that AD can be detected with a 0.76 sensitivity score and a 0.68 specificity score while the severity of AD could be detected with a 0.75 sensitivity score and a 0.72 specificity score with <= 5 channels. DiscussionThese scores suggest that fNIRS is a viable technology for conveniently detecting and monitoring AD as well as investigating underlying mechanisms of disease progression

No relation between EFHC2 gene polymorphism and Idiopathic generalized epilepsy.

Background: Idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) is an epilepsy form without an underlying brain lesion or neurological indication or symptom. Recent investigations on the genetic origins of IGE and its subtypes report that certain mutations of various ion and non-ion channels genes in the central nervous system may be associated with IGE.Purpose: In this study we evaluated the relation between IGE and S430Y polymorphism in EFHC2 gene in a Turkish population.Material/methods: The study enrolled 96 healthy volunteers (47 male, 49 female), served as controls, and 96 IGE patients (41 male, 55 female), IGE diagnosis was confirmed in the neurology department. DNA extractions were performed. The presence of S430Y polymorphism in the exon 9 of EFHC2 gene were analyzed by Real-Time PCR. The findings obtained from the control and patient groups were compared.Results: In the patient group there was one heterozygous male with 685 T&gt;C mutation. In the control group, there were two objects with 685 T&gt;C mutation; one heterozygous male, one heterozygous female. 662 G&gt;A mutation was determined in neither controls nor patients.Conclusion: In our series of 96 IGE patients and 96 healthy controls, there was no relation between S430Y polymorphism in EFHC2 gene and IGE presence.Keywords: EFHC2 gene polymorphism, idiopathic generalized epilepsy

Is clinical experience important for obtaining the primary stability of dental implants with aggressive threads? An ex vivo study

The aim of this study was to investigate the clinicians? experience on maintaining the primary stability of implants with aggressive threads belonging to a novel dental implant system. Three hundred implants with aggressive threads were inserted in fresh bovine ribs mimicking Type IV bone by five clinicians which were classified according to their previous experience of total number of implant insertion. An independent examiner measured the primary stability of all implants after insertion by using resonance frequency analysis (RFA), electronic percussive testing (EPT) and removal torque methods. No significant differences were detected between the stability values measured by the clinicians (p0.05). Significantly higher stability values were detected in the secondary insertion of the non-experienced clinician as compared to her initial insertion values (p >0.05). No significant differences were detected between the first and second measurements of the other clinicians (p< 0.05). Within the limitations of this ex-vivo study, it may be concluded that experience does not play an important role in maintaining the stability of implants with aggressive threads

Diagnosis of Transmissible Venereal Tumors in Bitches - Platelet Indices Are a Remarkable Marker?

Background: Hematological analyses are seen as more preferred laboratory analyses in canine transmissible venereal tumor studies. There is no information about the availability of platelets and their indices in routine practice in canine transmissible venereal tumor cases. Taking this as a starting point, this study analyzed the usefulness of platelet indices in dogs with transmissible venereal tumor in clinical laboratory diagnosis as well as examined the relationship between white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets (PLT), main platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), plateletcrit (PCT), and the ratio of main platelet volume to platelets (MPV/PLT). Materials, Methods &amp; Results: In the study, a total of 42 bitches of various breeds were used. Nineteen healthy bitches were used as a control group, and the others 23 with cTVT as a study group. Metastasis was not observed in any of the bitches involved in the study. History, clinical findings, and cytological examinations were evaluated for the diagnosis of cTVT. In animals with hemorrhagic discharge and neoplastic lesions, a vaginal cytological examination was performed. Typical TVT cells with large nuclei and intracytoplasmic vacuoles were observed in the vaginal cytological examinations, and the diagnosis of TVT was made. Healthy bitches (19) and those with TVT (23) were 39.16 5.37 months and 47.61 5.14 months old, respectively. From all animals, 2 mL blood samples were collected from V. cephalica to evaluate PIs in the complete blood count (CBC). Collected blood samples were analyzed using an automated hematology analyzer. As a result of the analysis, WBC, RBC, HGB, HCT, MCV, MCHC, RDW, PLT, MPV, PDW, PCT, and MPV/PLT data were obtained. Mild leukocytosis, an increase in PLT, and a decrease in MCV and MPV/PLT were determined in the study group compared to the control group. Cut-off values in CBC of bitches with TVT were determined as WBC: 13.35 (sensitivity: 78%; specificity: 90%); MCV: 67 (sensitivity: 57%; specificity: 95%); PLT: 315.50 (sensitivity: 65%; specificity: 74%); and MPV/PLT: 0.028 (sensitivity: 78%; specificity: 58%). In CBC analyses, a strong negative correlation between PLT and MPV/PLT was detected in both groups. Discussion: Canine transmissible venereal tumors are common in both stray and pet dogs. It is naturally transferred from animal to animal during mating by live tumor cells. This tumor can commonly affect the external genitalia and internal organs in some cases. It generally has the look of cauliflower, and its surface is ulcerated, inflammatory, hemorrhagic, and infectious. More preferred laboratory analyses are complete blood count and blood chemistry analysis in cTVT for to evaluate the success of treatments. Platelet indices have been investigated in many diseases such as endotoxemia, chronic enteropathy, mammary tumor, parvoviral enteritis, septic peritonitis, lymphoma, pyometra, visceral leishmaniasis, and babesiosis in dogs. There is no information available for either diagnostic or prognostic use of the PIs in canine TVT cases. Ultimately, in light of the presented study’s results, platelet indices, especially PLT and the MPV/PLT ratio, seem to be notable laboratory markers in terms of easy accessibility and low-cost assessment techniques in canine transmissible venereal tumor cases. New data, however, should be established by a thorough follow-up study using a larger sample size and addressing its usefulness as a diagnostic or prognostic marker in canine transmissible venereal tumors. Keywords: platelet indices, complete blood count, transmissible venereal tumor, female dog

Vitamin D status among adults in the Aegean region of Turkey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Vitamin D is a lipid-soluble hormone found in certain foods and synthesized from precursors in the skin when exposed to ultraviolet light. Vitamin D plays a critical role in bone metabolism and many cellular and immunological processes and low levels have been associated with several chronic and infectious diseases. Vitamin D status is assessed by measuring the concentration of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D]. Vitamin D deficiency is reported to be common worldwide, but little has been reported about the vitamin D status of adults in Turkey. In this cross-sectional study, we determined the prevalence of 25(OH)D deficiency in adults residing in a city in the Aegean region of Turkey.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A survey was conducted on a representative sample of adults over 20 years old in a non-coastal city at the end of the winter season. Of the 209 households selected by random sampling, 8.6% (n = 18) were unoccupied and 21.5% (n = 45) refused to participate. Blood samples were taken and questions about medical history, vitamin supplementation, sunlight exposure, and dietary calcium and vitamin D intake were asked in face-to-face interviews of 391 adults living in the remaining households.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean serum 25(OH)D concentration was 16.9±13.09 ng/mL, with 74.9% of the subjects having 25(OH)D deficiency (<20 ng/mL), 13.8% having insufficiency (20-29.99 ng/mL), and 11.3% of the subjects having sufficient 25(OH)D (≥30 ng/mL) levels. 25(OH)D deficiency was more common among females (78.7%) than males (66.4%, p < 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Adults living in an urban, non-coastal setting in Turkey have a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency.</p

Mathematical modeling of rapid mixing unit in pilot scale drinking water treatment plant

Konvansiyonel arıtma üniteleri suda bulunan partiküler ve kolloidal maddelerin uzaklaştırılmasında yaygın olarak kullanılmaktadır. Ham sudaki organik maddenin karakteri ve konsantrasyonu, bulanıklık, pH, alkalinite ve sıcaklık gibi parametreler arıtma verimini önemli ölçüde etkilemektedir. Arıtma ünitelerinin verimini artırmak amacıyla genellikle inorganik pıhtılaştırıcılara ihtiyaç duyulmaktadır. İnorganik pıhtılaştırıcılar hızlı karıştırma ünitesine ilave edilmektedir ve suda çözündüğünde pH ile diğer parametrelere etki edebilmektedir. Konvansiyonel arıtma ünitelerinden biri olan hızlı karıştırma ünitesi, partiküler ve kolloidal maddelerin destabilize edilmesinde önemli rol oynamaktadır. Hızlı karıştırma ünitesinin verimli olması sonraki ünitelerin de verimlerini etkilemektedir. Bu çalışma kapsamında Büyükçekmece İçme Suyu Arıtma Tesisi ham suyu ile pilot ölçekli tesis işletilerek hızlı karıştırma ünitesi modellenmiştir. Ham su parametreleri kullanılarak hızlı karıştırma ünitesinin çıkış pH değerini tahmin edebilmek için korelasyon ve regresyon analizleri gerçekleştirilmiştir. İstatistiksel analiz ve modellemede Excel veri çözümleme araçları kullanılmıştır. %1,90 hata sınırı içerisinde pH değeri tahmin edilmiştir. Böylece, Türkiye’de ilk defa hızlı karıştırma ünitesi için bir matematiksel model oluşturulmuştur. Bu sonuçlar, oluşturulan modelin içme suyu arıtma tesislerinde kullanılabilir olacağını göstermektedir.Conventional treatment units are widely used for the removal of particulate and colloidal substances in water. Parameters such as character and concentration of organic matter in raw water, turbidity, pH, alkalinity and temperature significantly affect the treatment efficiency. Inorganic coagulants are usually needed to increase the efficiency of treatment units. They are added to the rapid mixing unit and can affect pH and other parameters when dissolved in water. The rapid mixing unit, one of the conventional treatment units, plays an important role in destabilizing particulate and colloidal substances. The efficiency of the rapid mixing unit also affects the efficiency of the subsequent units. Within the scope of this study, a pilot plant was operated with the raw waters of Buyukcekmece Drinking Water Treatment Plant and a rapid mixing unit was modeled in terms of pH. Correlation and regression analyses were carried out to estimate the outlet pH of the rapid mixing unit by using the raw water parameters. Excel data analysis tools were used in statistical analysis and modeling. The pH value was estimated within the 1.90% error limit. Thus, a mathematical model has been developed for the rapid mixing unit for the first time in Turkey. These results indicate that the model created will be usable in drinking water treatment plants