ORGANIC FARMING AND SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT: ÇORUH VALLEY

Organic farming has potential for reducing some of the negative impacts of conventional agriculture on the environment. Organic farming contributes to rural development and economy. These farming systems can also be the most important contributor to the rural economy of region and Çoruh Valley. Çoruh Valley contains rich biological diversity of plants, wildlife, and ecosystems. These natural and environmental resources will play an important role for rural development in this area. Some evidences suggested that an important benefit of organic farming is the creation of jobs in the rural economy and prevention of human erosion. Effective use of the source will come true with production, processing and marketing of organic products such as spices, pekmez, honey, fruit and vegetable juices, thyme juices, vegetable oils, herbal tea, chemical compounds of plant and food additives in Çoruh Valley

Role of inoculation with multi-trait rhizobacteria on strawberries under water deficit stress

This study was conducted during 2011 and 2012 to evaluate the effect of 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate (ACC) deaminase-containing, N2-fixing and P-solubilizing bacteria on the yield and morpho-physiological parameters of strawberry. A total of 8 applications at the trial set, with four water regimes were randomly distributed into the pots. The diminishing water supply caused a gradual decrease in the plant growth, chlorophyll content and berry yield, accompanied by increasing activities of drought stress markers such as total phenolics content (TPC), trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), malondialdehyde (MDA) content, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), glutathione reductase (GR), glutathione S-transferase (GST), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) in the leaves of strawberry. The multi-trait bacteria also increased plant growth and yield as well as TPC, TEAC, antioxidant enzymes (GR, GST, CAT, POD, SOD and APX) activity, phytohormone (GA, SA and IAA) and the contents of N, P, K, Ca, Fe, Mn, Zn and Cu, but decreased MDA and H2O2 contents which may contribute in part to activation of physiological and biochemical processes involved in the alleviation of the effect of drought stress

Evaluation of Listening Skills According to Different Variables in the Individuals Occupying with Mountaineering Sports

There is an association between the listening skills of individuals occupying with mountaineering and their high solidarity and cooperation characteristics. This study is aimed to determine variables to be effective on listening skills levels. The study was conducted over totally 157 individuals (47 females) performing mountaineering activities in different parts of Turkey. Listening Skills Scale which was developed by Cihangir and Çankaya (2012)was used to gather data and frequency distribution, t test and ANOVA variance analysis were employed for statistical evaluation. Differences between the views of the groups were commented by taking the significance level of P:0.05 into consideration.It was found from the results of the study that there is no statistically significant difference between mean scores of the groups for gender, age, family structure and the reason for the preference of mountaineering sports while differences are statistically significant for education level and length of the time spent for sports. High school graduate individuals occupying with sports for 5 to 7 years exhibited lower listening skills than primary school and university graduate people occupying for more and less than 5 to 7 years. High accident risk makes listening important in mountaineering sports. It was suggested that individuals occupying with mountaineering should be told the importance of listening and need for improving listening skills. Keywords: Listening, listening skills, sports, mountaineering sports

Sustainability Organic Agriculture and Livestock Production with Respect to European Union in Eastern Anatolia and East Black Sea Regions

The majority of farm households in Turkey and especially the Eastern Anatolia are still based on low-input semi subsistence agriculture and livestock production. Despite a slow decline in recent years, agriculture and livestock production remains a major employer in Turkey and it is a significant contributor to the country’s gross domestic product, GDP. Whist Turkey is one of the EU candidate countries, is self sufficient in food production and Turkish agriculture is poorly structured inefficient, with farming in the Eastern Anatolia being mainly subsistence farming. Yet, these traditional rural structures combined with poor access to low level of education and low level of off-farm unemployment problem makes the situation more complicated and unsustainable. The best way to promote sustainability, better and higher production of Eastern Anatolian and rural Turkey is to invest in the local people, villages through improved, continuing and effective agricultural and livestock programs in particular. Investment in human capital especially in the rural areas leads to more employment opportunities through entrepreneurship and innovation in organic agriculture and livestock production. A holistic approach to developing and improving supply chains could unlock the potential for sophisticated, state-of-the-art organic agriculture and livestock producers and businesses in the region to become EU and global players. Eastern Anatolian livestock producers and the farmers have the ambitions to take part in future progress because the region is naturally organic not by design but default. It is for sure that present potential of the region has not been fully determined and utilized. EU has greatly benefited from previous enlargements economically, politically and socially. When European Union (EU) and Turkish Government relations considered and accession of Turkey to EU would be the logical consequence of the previous accessions. The screening on chapter 11 (Agriculture and rural development) is one of the important criteria and Turkey is working on to meet these benchmarks

Measurement of choroid thickness in pregnant women using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography

Objetivo: Investigar a espessura da coroide em gestantes saudáveis durante os diferentes trimestres utilizando tomografia de coerência óptica com profundidade de imagem aprimorada (EDI-OCT). Métodos: Este estudo prospectivo incluiu 90 gestantes saudáveis nos primeiro, segundo e terceiro trimestres da gravidez (grupos 1, 2 e 3, respectivamente) e 30 mulheres saudáveis não-gestantes (grupo 4) com faixa etária de 18-40 anos de idade. Foi realizada tomografia de coerência óptica espectral para estimar a espessura média da coroide. A espessura da coroide foi medida manualmente da borda externa do epitélio pigmentar da retina até o limite interno da esclera nas regiões subfoveal, 3 mm temporal e 3 mm nasal à fóvea utilizando EDI-OCT. As diferenças entre os grupos foram analisadas com o teste ANOVA unicaudal. Resultados: Houve diferença estatística significativa na espessura média da coroide entre os grupos 2 e 4 nas regiões subfoveal, temporal e nasal à fóvea (p=0,007; p<0,001; p=0,026, respectivamente). A espessura média da coroide no grupo 2 foi: 395 ± 80 µm, 338 ± 77 µm e 233 ± 61 µm nas regiões subfoveal, temporal e nasal à fóvea, respectivamente. Em comparação, a espessura média da coroide no grupo 4 foi de: 335 ± 86 µm, 275 ± 54 µm e 200 ± 53 µm, nas regiões subfoveal, temporal e nasal à fóvea, respectivamente. Não foi encontrada diferença estatística significativa entre os grupos 1-4 (p=0,214, p=0,177, p=0,094, respectivamente) e os grupos 3-4 (p=0,105, p=0,261, p=0,695 respectivamente), para todas as medidas. Conclusão: Nossos resultados sugerem que há espessamento da coroide nas regiões subfoveal, temporal e nasal à fóvea no segundo trimestre gestacional

Evaluation of peripapillary choroidal and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in eyes with tilted optic disc

Purpose: This study was performed to evaluate the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and peripapillary choroidal thickness in eyes with tilted optic disc in order to identify characteristic RNFL and peripapillary choroid patterns verified by optical coherence tomography (OCT). Methods: Twenty-nine eyes of 29 patients with tilted optic discs were studied with spectral-domain (SD)-OCT and compared with age and sex-matched control subjects in a prospective design. The imaging of RNFL was performed using circular scans of a diameter of 3.4 mm around the optic disc using OCT. For measurements of peripapillary choroidal thickness, the standar d protocol for RNFL assessment was performed. Results: SD-OCT indicated significantly lower superotemporal (p<0.001), superonasal (p=0.001), and global (p=0.005) RNFL thicknesses in the tilted disc group than those of the control group. Peripapillary choroid was significantly thicker at the site of the elevated rim of eyes with tilted disc (p<0.001). Conclusion: This study demonstrated a clinical characterization of the main tilted disc morphologies that may be helpful in differentiating a tilted disc from other altered disc morphologies. Further studies are recommended to study the comparison between glaucoma and tilted disc groups

Growth, tolerance and safety outcomes with use of an extensively hydrolyzed casein-based formula in infants with cow’s milk protein allergy

ObjectiveTo evaluate growth, tolerance and safety outcomes with use of an extensively hydrolyzed casein-based formula (eHCF) in infants with cow’s milk protein allergy (CMPA).MethodsA total of 226 infants (mean ± SD age: 106.5 ± 39.5 days, 52.7% were girls) with CMPA who received eHCF comprising at least half of the daily dietary intake were included. Data on anthropometrics [weight for age (WFA), length for age (LFA) and weight for length (WFL) z-scores] were recorded at baseline (visit 1), while data on infant feeding and stool records, anthropometrics and Infant Feeding and Stool Patterns and Formula Satisfaction Questionnaires were recorded at visit 2 (on Days 15 ± 5) and visit 3 (on Days 30 ± 5).ResultsFrom baseline to visit 2 and visit 3, WFA z-scores (from −0.60 ± 1.13 to −0.54 ± 1.09 at visit 2, and to −0.44 ± 1.05 at visit 3, p &lt; 0.001) and WFL z-scores (from −0.80 ± 1.30 to −0.71 ± 1.22 at visit 2, and to −0.64 ± 1.13 at visit 3, p = 0.002) were significantly increased. At least half of infants never experienced irritability or feeding refusal (55.7%) and spit-up after feeding (50.2%). The majority of mothers were satisfied with the study formula (93.2%), and wished to continue using it (92.2%).ConclusionsIn conclusion, eHCF was well-accepted and tolerated by an intended use population of infants  ≤ 6 months of age with CMPA and enabled adequate volume consumption and improved growth indices within 30 days of utilization alongside a favorable gastrointestinal tolerance and a high level of parental satisfaction

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI