Experiencing Cultural Heritage Through Gamification: Mardin orphanage

This paper presents early-stage research about the role of gamification in experiencing cultural heritage strongly within the sociological context, specifically focusing on the transformation of the old orphanage located in the historical city center of Mardin. The study acknowledges the significance of the old orphanage as an architectural heritage exemplar, built of natural Mardin stone, situated within a unique historical and archaeological urban environment. However, it recognizes the challenges of preserving the building's heritage value, which necessitate surpassing the superficial restoration methods applied to adapt it into a hotel. The primary motivation of this research is to develop a method for creating a navigable and interactive virtual replica of the orphanage, centering on the processes and outcomes of transferring its heritage value. To achieve this, the paper initially outlines the documentation and analysis procedures employed, utilizing photogrammetry to capture the past and current states of the orphanage. Subsequently, participants engage with a gamified and realistic digital replica of the orphanage, involving task-based interactions and scenario-based experiences. The paper concludes by presenting preliminary results concerning participant reactions to the initial virtual model, delivered through a VR device. By raising awareness about the significance of restoring and preserving historical heritage, this study aims to positively impact the domains of tourism, education, and conservation. Furthermore, it intends to shed light on future research opportunities in the field of digital cultural heritage.International Technological Universit

Flow cytometric evaluation of T and B lymphocyte percentage in chronic kidney disease

Introduction. T and B lymphocytes play crucial roles in adaptive immunity. These cells are negatively affected in multiple disorders, including chronic kidney disease. The purpose of this study was to compare T and B lymphocyte ratios between patients with chronic kidney disease and healthy controls. Methods. In this study, we evaluated the percentages of patient and donor (healthy control) lymphocytes referred to our laboratory between 2012 and 2014. In total 103 patient-donor couples were tested by the FCXM method. CD3-PerCP and CD19-PE monoclonal antibodies were used in order to differentiate T and B cells, respectively. T and B cell percentages of the participants were statistically compared. Results. The mean age of the investigated patients and donors was 36.3 ± 13.7 and 46.2 ± 12.4 years, respectively. Of the studied patients, 45.6% and 54.3% were female and male, whereas 54.3% and 45.6% of donors were female and male, respectively. In the investigated group, 42 patients were preemptive, 45 subjects were treated with haemodialysis, and 16 individuals were on peritoneal dialysis. T and B lymphocyte percentages in the healthy group were higher than in patients with chronic kidney disease. However, the difference reached statistical significance only for T lymphocytes (p < 0.05). The percentages of total lymphocytes, and T and B lymphocytes in patients treated with haemodialysis were numerically lower than in those on peritoneal dialysis. In addition, we found that patients with chronic kidney disease had lower concentrations of haemoglobin and albumin than healthy controls. Conclusion. This study suggests that patients with advanced chronic kidney disease have lower rates of lymphocytes that healthy controls. This fact may at least partially explain impaired immunity in this setting. However, our findings require confirmation and detailed investigation of underlying mechanisms in further studies.

Prognostic significance of omental disease and the role of omentectomy in non-endometrioid endometrial cancer

Objectives: Non-endometrioid endometrial cancers (non-EEC) have different management from endometrioid endometrial cancers. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prognostic significance of omental disease and the role of omentectomy in non-endometrioid endometrial cancer and discuss the current literature with the findings. Material and methods: The study included two hundred-three patients with non-EEC who underwent surgical treatment and follow-up between January 1996 and December 2018 in a University Hospital Gynecologic Oncology Center. The patients were divided into three groups according to whether omentectomy was performed and the presence of omental metastasis. The patient’s demographics, clinical characteristics such as stage, grade, histopathologic type, lymphovascular space invasion (LVSI), myometrial invasion, lymph node involvement, and survival outcomes were compared between the groups. Results: The study included 203 patients. Twenty-five patients (12%) had omental metastases. LVSI was reported in 57.3%, 88.0%, and 43.2% of the non-omentectomy, no-omental metastasis, and omental metastatic groups, respectively (p = 0.001). The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates according to the tumor grade, peritoneal cytology, and lymphadenectomy were also compared and were found to be statistically similar. The five-year OS rates were 70.6% for the group without omental metastases and 16.2% for the group with omental metastases, respectively (p = 0.001). In the group of omentectomy, the five-year DFS rates were 62.2% in cases without omental metastasis and 13.0% in cases with omental metastasis (p = 0.001). The five-year OS rates of 86.3% and DFS rates of 80.0% in the group without omentectomy. Conclusions: In non-endometrioid tumors, the survival rate was better in the group that did not undergo omentectomy. Based on these results, we can say that omentectomy may not be necessary for non-endometrioid tumors whose omentum is found to be normal in intraoperative visual examination

INTEGRATION OF BUILDING ENERGY PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT INTO ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN STUDIO

Gün geçtikçe artan çevresel kaygılar ile birlikte ön plana çıkan sürdürülebilir mimarlık anlayışını geliştirebilmek için geleceğin mimarları olan mimarlık öğrencilerine verilecek enerji etkin-ekolojik bina tasarımı eğitimi büyük önem taşımaktadır. Mimari tasarım eğitiminde, tasarım sürecinin ilk evrelerinde alınan kararlar, sonuç mimari ürününün performansını da büyük ölçüde etkilemektedir. Bu eğitimin verilmesi sürecinde karşılaşılan asıl problem, öğrencilerin stüdyolarda içgüdüsel olarak aldıkları çevresel sürdürülebilirlik kararlarını ölçme/ değerlendirme/ yorumlamada yetersiz kalmalarıdır. Bu bağlamda 2003 yılından beri çalışmalarını yürüten Stüdyo 5 (GÜMMF Mimarlık Bölümü tasarım eğitimi stüdyosu) deneyimleri ışığında, konvansiyonel tasarım sürecinin, enerji-ekoloji tabanında teorik bilgileri multidisipliner tasarım alanına aktarmaya çalışan bir stüdyo öğretisi için uygun olmadığı görülmüştür. Bu doğrultuda, Güz '06 döneminde Stüdyo 5 tarafından simülasyon destekli bina performans analizinin lisans düzeyinde mimari tasarım eğitimine entegrasyonunun sağlanması amacıyla oluşturulan deney ve kontrol grupları ile deneysel bir proje yürütülmüştür. Kontrol grubu konvansiyonel tasarım sürecini izlerken, deney grubu Ecotect v5.20 simulasyon programı ile birlikte binalarının çevresel performanslarını ölçerek tasarımlarını geliştirmişlerdir. Süreç ve sonuçta elde edilen bulguları karşılaştırabilmek için her iki gruba da aynı program, ölçek ve arazi verilmiş, stüdyo ortamının işleyişine uygun kalitatif ve kantitatif yöntemler kullanılmıştır. Gözlemler ve değerlendirmeler sonucunda simülasyon destekli mimari tasarım eğitimi çalışmasını etkileyen 4 temel parametre ortaya çıkmıştır: Gerekli bilgi birikimine/ dijital teknolojilere/ disipline/ tasarım potansiyeline sahip öğrenciler; gerekli bilgi birikimine/ deneyime/ bilgisayar destekli çevresel tasarım öğretilerine sahip öğretim elemanları; stüdyo altyapısı; ve tasarım sürecini zamanlama faktörü önem taşımaktadır.In order to develop sustainable architecture concept, which has become prominent with environmental concerns increasing day by day, it's important to give energy and ecology conscious design education to the architecture students, who are the next generation architects. In architectural design education, design desicions taken during the early phases of design process play an important role in ensuring the performance of the end product. The main problem in such a knowledge based design process is the incapabilities on evaluating/ interpreting the outcomes of intuitively taken design decisions so as to provide reliable environmental sustainability criteria. Studies of Studio 5 (design studio focused on green architecture in GUMMF, Department of Architecture) revealed that conventional design process is not a satisfactory approach for a multidisciplinary knowledge based studio aiming to integrate the theoretical basis of energy-ecology field with the architectural studio practice. Therefore, within the contextual frame of green design education, an experimental study is carried out by Studio 5 in Fall '06 on integrating building energy performance assessment into design studio as a design decision support tool, with a test and control group. Students of the control group followed the conventional process of design whereas students of the test group experienced the design process by testing environmental performance of their proposals with computational models and energy simulations carried with Ecotect v5.20. Both groups are given the same program, scale and site for the design problem in order to conduct comparative evaluations on the design process and outputs. The necessary data for comparative evaluations are obtained with qualitative and quantitative research methods. Observations and evaluations demonstrate that major parameters to be considered in such an integrated studio approach in education are; students with necessary knowledge background/ digital technologies/ self discipline for studio work/ architectural design potential and enthusiasm; teaching staff with necessary background of knowledge and experience in related fields and computer aided environmental design; studio infrastructure, well equipped for computer aided environmental design; and flexible time opportunities necessary for design processes of varying levels of student profiles

Teaching of exponential numbers with concept and mind maps

Yüksek Lisans TeziBu araştırma üslü sayılar konusunun kavram ve zihin haritalarıyla zenginleştirilerek öğretiminin öğrencilerin akademik başarılarına, matematik tutumlarına, matematik kaygılarına ve matematik öz yeterlilik algılarına etkisini incelenmek amacıyla yapılmıştır. Araştırma deneysel bir çalışmadır. Kontrol gruplu ön test-son test modeli kullanılmıştır. Öğrencilerin akademik başarı düzeyleri, matematik dersine yönelik tutumları, kaygı düzeyleri ve öz yeterlilik algısını belirlemek için betimsel yöntem kullanılmıştır. Araştırma 2018-2019 eğitim öğretim yılının birinci döneminde Karaman ili merkez ilçesi Cahit Zarifoğlu İmam Hatip Ortaokulu'nda öğrenim gören 8. Sınıf, 92 öğrenci ile 4 hafta sürecince gerçekleştirilmiştir. Verilerin toplanmasında çoktan seçmeli 20 sorudan oluşan matematik başarı testi, 20 maddeden oluşan matematik tutum ölçeği, 45 maddeden oluşan matematik kaygı ölçeği ve 19 maddeden oluşan matematik öz yeterlilik ölçeği kullanılmıştır. Dersler kontrol grubunda klasik yöntemle, deney grubunda kavram ve zihin haritaları ile zenginleştirilerek işlenmiştir. Deneysel işlem sonrasında elde edilen veriler bağımsız örneklemler t testi kullanılarak SPSS programı ile analiz edilmiştir. Ölçme araçları ile elde edilen puanların ortalaması istatiksel olarak değerlendirilmiştir. Araştırmada anlamlılık düzeyi 0,05 alınmıştır. Deneysel işlem sonunda kavram ve zihin haritalarıyla zenginleştirilerek ders işlenen ortamın başarı düzeyini artırdığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Kavram ve zihin haritalarıyla zenginleştirilerek ders işlenen ortamdaki öğrencilerin matematik tutumlarında, matematik öz yeterlilik algılarında bir değişiklik oluşturmadığı ortaya çıkmıştır. Kavram ve zihin haritalarıyla zenginleştirilerek ders işlenen sınıfın matematik dersine yönelik kaygı düzeylerinin klasik öğrenme yöntemleri kullanılarak ders işlenen ortamdaki öğrencilere göre daha düşük olduğu görülmüştür. Kavram ve zihin haritalarıyla zenginleştirilerek ders işlenen ortamdaki öğrencilerin matematik başarı düzeylerinde, matematik dersine yönelik tutumlarında ve öz yeterlilik algılarında cinsiyet değişkenine göre bir fark görülmemiştir. Kavram ve zihin haritalarıyla zenginleştirilerek ders işlenen ortamdaki öğrencilerin matematik kaygı düzeyleri kız öğrencilerin erkek öğrencilere göre daha yüksek olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.This study was conducted to investigate the effect of exponential numbers on the academic achievement of students, attitudes towards mathematic course, mathematics anxiety and mathematics self-sufficiency perceptions. The research is an experimental study. Pre-test and post test model with control group was used. Descriptive method was used to determine students' academic achievement levels, attitudes towards mathematics course ,anxiety levels and self-sufficiency perception. The research was conducted in the first semester of the 2018-2019 academic year in a 4 weak period with 8th grade 92 students in an İmam Hatip secondary school in the central district of Karaman province mathematics achievement test consisting of 20 multiple choice questions, mathematics attitude scale consisting of 20 items, math anxiety scale consisting of 45 items and mathematics self-sufficiency test consisting of 19 items were used. Lessons were tought by the classical method in the control group and enriched with concept and mind maps in the experimental group. The data obtained after the experimental process was analyzed with SPSS 22.0 package program using dependent / independent samples t test .The average of the scores obtained with the measurement tools was evolvated statistically.Significance level was taken as 0.05 .At the end of the experimental process, the concept and mind maps were enriched and it was concluded that the environment in which the course was taught increased the level of academic achievement . It was revealed that there was no change in mathematics attitudes and perceptions of mathematics self-sufficiency the students in the environment where the lessons were enriched with concepts and mind maps.It was seen that the anxiety levels of the class students who were enriched with concept and mind maps were lower than the students in the environment where the lessons were taught by using classical learning methods. There was no difference between students' mathematics achievement levels, attitudes towards mathematics course and self-sufficiency perceptions by enriching with concept and mind maps according to gender variable. It was concluded that students' math anxiety levels were higher in female students than male students by enriching with concept and mind maps

A Unique Case of Merkel Cell Carcinoma with Ovarian Metastasis

Background: Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is a rare cutaneous/mucosal malignancy with very aggressive biology and increasing incidence. Ovarian metastasis is an exceptionally rare site for MCC, and only two cases have been reported in the literature. Case Report: We report MCC with ovarian metastasis. A 34 year-old female with previously excised MCC from preauricular skin presented with a pelvic mass 15 months after first diagnosis. Anti-cytokeratin (CK) 20 positivity, LCA (leucocyte common antigen), and TTF-1 (Thyroid transcription factor-1) negativity confirmed metastatic ovarian MCC. There was no evidence of recurrence or metastasis at 12 months after salpingo-oopherectomy. Conclusion: MCC should be considered in the differential diagnosis of primary and metastatic undifferentiated small round cell tumors of the ovary

Kritik COVID-19 Hasta PrognozununDeğerlendirilmesinde Akut FazProteinlerinin Önemi

Amaç: Yoğun bakım ünitesine ilk kabulde kötü prognoz riskine sahip COVID-19 hastalarını belirlemenin çeşitli tanısal zorlukları vardır. Karaciğer tarafından sentezlenen akut faz proteinlerinin konsantrasyonu inflamasyon ve enfeksiyonu takiben serumda artar veya azalır. Bu çalışmada, kritik COVID-19 hastalarında akut faz proteinlerinin prediktif değerini belirleme ve yoğun bakım ünitesinde mortalite riskini öngörmede inflamatuar belirteçlerin etkinliğini değerlendirme amaçlanmaktadır. Gereç ve Yöntem: Retrospektif olarak tasarlanan bu çalışma yoğun bakım ünitesinde tedavi gören kritik COVID-19 hastalarında yapıldı. Çalışmaya yoğun bakım ünitesine kabulün ilk 24 saatinde ARDS ve/veya çoklu organ disfonksiyonu olan 123 hasta dahil edildi. Yoğun bakım ünitesindeki 28 günün sonunda sağ kalan (n=54) ve ölen (n=69) hasta grupları veya invaziv mekanik ventilasyon (n=83) uygulanan ve uygulanmayan (n =40) hasta grupları oluşturuldu. Gruplar arasında akut faz proteinleri olan serum amiloid A, C-reaktif protein, albümin ve prealbüminin yoğun bakım ünitesine kabulün ilk 24 saat içerisindeki değerleri karşılaştırıldı. Bulgular: Albümin ve prealbümin düzeyleri ölen (sırasıyla p=0.011, p<0.001) ve mekanik ventilasyon uygulanan (sırasıyla p=0.010, p=0.006) hastalarda anlamlı olarak azaldı. Mekanik ventilasyonlu hastalarda serum amiloid A düzeyleri anlamlı olarak arttı (p=0.022). Sonuç: Yoğun bakım ünitesine kabul sırasında düşük prealbümin ve albümin seviyeleri ve yüksek serum amiloid A seviyeleri, hastalık şiddeti ve mortalitenin prognostik bir belirteci olarak kullanılabilir