STUDENT READINESS FOR TECHNOLOGY-ENHANCED HISTORY EDUCATION IN TURKISH HIGH SCHOOLS

This study examined whether the Turkish high school social sciences major students would feel adequate and fit in a technology-enhanced educational environment, particularly in history classrooms. To this extent, this study investigated high school students' level of proficiency in technology-use and their attitudes toward the use of educational technologies in classrooms. The study also examined the level of technology-use in social sciences courses and social sciences major students' learning style preferences. The data for this study was collected using Kolb's Learning Style Inventory (LSI Version-3) and a 27-item Technology Questionnaire. These instruments were administered to 1350 Turkish high school students from 15 schools located in 13 different cities. The results showed that Turkish high school social sciences major students have the essential technology skills and knowledge to feel adequate in a technology-enhanced learning environment. They also have positive attitudes toward the use of educational technologies in history classrooms. Therefore they seem to be ready for technology-enhanced instruction. Unfortunately the level of technology-use in social sciences courses is very low. The study results revealed the need for an extensive reform in curriculum and instructional methods that focused on increased technology-use and better technology integration in classrooms. The study also found that any related reform proposition should be constructed to address different learning style preferences, since all the learning style preferences described by Kolb exist among Turkish high school students

CP Asymmetry in Charged Higgs Decays to Chargino-Neutralino

We analyze the charge-parity (CP) asymmetry in the charged Higgs boson decays to chargino-neutralino pairs, H^- -> chargino_i + neutralino_j. We show first that these modes have a large branching ratio for m_H^- > 600 GeV. We use Cutkosky rules to obtain the analytical formulas needed for the evaluation of the asymmetry under consideration. We then calculate the CP asymmetry in chargino-neutralino decays by including supersymmetric mass bounds, as well as constraints from b -> s gamma, (g-2)_mu, Delta\rho and electric dipole moments. Finally, we discuss observability of the asymmetry at the LHC by calculating the number of required charged Higgs events to observe the asymmetry for each decay channel. We show that the inclusion of constraints considerably reduces the projected CP asymmetry, and that the optimal channel for observing the asymmetry is H^- -> chargino_1 + neutralino_2.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, one tabl

Sevoflurane requirement during elective ankle day surgery: the effects of etirocoxib premedication, a prospective randomised study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Anti-inflammatory drugs, NSAIDs, have become an important part of the pain management in day surgery. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of Coxib premedication on the intra-operative anaesthetic requirements in patients undergoing elective ankle surgery in general anaesthesia.</p> <p>Type of study</p> <p>Prospective, randomized study of the intra-operative anaesthetic-sparing effects of etoricoxib premedication as compared to no NSAID preoperatively.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The intra-operative requirement of sevoflurane was studied in forty-four ASA 1–2 patients undergoing elective ankle day surgical in balanced general anaesthesia.</p> <p>Primary study endpoint was end-tidal sevoflurane concentration to maintain Cerebral State Index of 40 – 50 during surgery.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>All anaesthesia and surgery was uneventful, no complications or adverse events were noticed. The mean end-tidal sevoflurane concentration intra-operatively was 1.25 (SD 0.2) and 0.91 (SD 0.2) for the pre and post-operative administered group of patients respectively (p < 0.0001). No other intra-operative differences could be noted. Emergence and recovery was rapid and no difference was noticed in time to discharge-eligible mean 52 minutes in both groups studied. In all 6 patients, 5 in the group receiving etoricoxib post-operatively, after surgery, and one in the pre-operative group required rescue analgesia before discharge from hospital. No difference was seen in pain or need for rescue analgesia, nausea or patients satisfaction during the first 24 postoperative hours.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Coxib premedication before elective day surgery has an anaesthetic sparing potential.</p

SOCIAL STUDIES TEACHERS’ AND TEACHER CANDIDATES’ PERCEPTIONS ON PROMPT FEEDBACK AND COMMUNICATE HIGH EXPECTATIONS

This study aims to investigate perception of social studies teachers and teacher candidates on the implication of two of the seven principles of good practice in education developed by Chickering and Gamson (1987) at middle school social studies classrooms. To this extend a survey instrument was used to collect data and address the research questions. The total internal reliability coefficient of the scale was calculated as 0.68. The sample of the study consists of 31 Social Studies teachers, 50 second grade and 49 fourth grade Social Studies teacher candidates. The result of the study shows that for principle 4 (prompt feedback) second and fourth grade teacher candidates have more affirmative statements than the teachers, while for principle 6 (communicate high expectations) social studies teachers have more positive statements than 2nd and 4th grade students

Multi-modal-analgesia for pain management after Hallux Valgus surgery: a prospective randomised study on the effect of ankle block

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pain and emesis are the two major complaints after day case surgery. Local anaesthesia has become an important part of optimizing intra and post-operative pain treatment, but is sometimes not entirely sufficient. The aim of the present study was to study the effect of adding an ankle block to a multi-modal analgesic approach on the first 24-hour-need for rescue analgesia in patients undergoing elective Hallux Valgus surgery.</p> <p>Type of study</p> <p>Prospective, randomized patient-blind study comparing ankle block with levo-bupivacaine, lidocaine and Saline placebo control.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Ninety patients were studied comparing ankle block (15 cc) using levo-bupivacaine 2.5 mg/ml, lidocaine 10 mg/ml or placebo (saline) on day-case elective Hallux Valgus surgery, supported by general anaesthesia in all cases. Primary study endpoint was number of patient's requiring oral analgesics during the first 24 post-operative hours.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ankle block had no effect on need for rescue analgesia and pain ratings during the 1^st24 postoperative hours, there was no difference seen between placebo and any of the two active local anaesthesia studied. The only differences seen was that both lidocaine and levo-bupivacaine reduced the intra-operative need for anaesthetic (sevoflurane) and that levo-bupivacaine patients had a lower need as compared to the lidocaine patients for oral analgesics during the afternoon of surgery.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Adding a single shot ankle block to a multi-modal pain management strategy reduces the need for intra-operative anaesthesia but has no major impact of need of rescue analgesics or pain during the first 24-hour after surgery.</p

An Application Based on Artificial Neural Network for Determining Viewpoint Coordinates on a Screen

This study used two different Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to determine the point on a computer screen that the user is looking at. First, an ANN, called ANN1 was developed to identify the eye region of a laptop user from a webcam image. The computer screen was then divided into 57 × 32 blocks of 24 × 24 pixels. One hundred of these were randomly selected, and 20 images were taken by the integrated webcam while the user was looking at each point. The eye region was found on each image by ANN1. This eye region data was used to train another ANN, called ANN2. Twenty blocks were selected, and 20 different images were used as the test set. The coordinates of the block at which the user was looking were determined by ANN2. The deviations between the actual location coordinates and the location coordinates estimated by ANN2 were small. We conclude that our ANN2 was successfully trained to find the viewpoint of the user

The Validity and Reliability of the Turkish Version of the Integrative Self-knowledge Scale

AbstractThe aim of this research is to examine the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Integrative self -knowledge Scale (ISKS; Ghorbani, Watson, & Hargis, 2008). Participants were 396 university students (277 were female and 119 were male) from Sakarya University. The results of confirmatory factor analysis indicated that the three dimensional model was well fitted and Chi-Square value (x2=108. 38, df=49, p=0. 00) which was calculated for the adaptation of the model was found to be significant. The goodness of fit index values of the model were RMSEA=.055, NFI=.97, CFI=.98, IFI=.98, RFI=.96, GFI=.96, and SRMR=.041. The internal consistency coefficients of three subscales were .74, .77, and .83, respectively. The overall internal consistency coefficient of the scale was .86. The corrected item-total correlations of ISKS ranged from .37 to .67. Overall findings demonstrated that this scale had high validity and reliability scores and that it may be used as a valid and reliable instrument in order to assess self-knowledge levels of individuals

Comparison of immunoglobulin (IgG, IgM) concentrations in calves raised under organic and conventional conditions*

The objective of study was conducted on to compare immunoglobulin (Ig) concentrations in calves raised under organic and conventional conditions. 30 newborn Holstein Friesian calves (15 rose under organic and 15 under conventional conditions) in two dairy cattle farms. Blood samples were taken from 30 newborn calves at birth (before taking colostrum) and on 14th day to compare immunoglobulin (Ig) concentrations in calves raised under organic and conventional conditions. Furthermore, blood and colostrum samples were also taken from the mothers included into the study. IgG and IgM concentrations in colostrum and blood serums were determined using commercial ELISA kits. IgG concentrations at birth (0.79±0.34, 1.64±0.95 mg/mL) and on the 14th day (46.5±21.5, 70.5±27.8 mg/mL) in calves raised under organic conditions were lower than those raised under conventional conditions (p0.05). No difference was found in the IgG and IgM concentrations of colostrum obtained from cows raised under organic and conventional conditions. In both the husbandry systems, positive and significant (p<0.01) correlations were found between the Ig concentrations of the mothers and offsprings. Consequently, it can be suggested that higher Ig concentrations in cattle raised under conventional conditions might be due to poorer environmental conditions

Executive functions and thyroid volumes in bipolar patients on lithium treatment

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between executive functions and thyroid ultrasound parameters in remitted bipolar patients who were on lithium treatment. Methods: In the current study, 25 remitted patients with diagnoses of Bipolar I Disorder having blood lithium, and thyroid hormone levels within the normal range were consecutively enrolled. Healthy control group consisted of 25 euthyroid people matched as an age, sex and education level with the patients. Semi-structured sociodemographic and clinical form, the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), the Hamilton Depression Scale, Young Mania Rating Scale, thyroid ultrasonography and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) were applied to both groups. Within the patient group, correlation analysis was performed between WCST performance and thyroid volume. Results: In the present study, no significant difference was found between the bipolar and the healthy control groups regarding the executive functions as measured via WCST. In the bipolar patients, there were no statistically significant correlations among WCST scores and thyroid volumes. Conclusion: Thyroid volumes are not appeared to be associated with executive functions in euthymic bipolar patients.Publisher's Versio