Coaching as a Performance Improvement Tool at School

The purpose of this study is to examine the current literature and have an insight about coaching as a performance improvement tool at school. In today’s world, schools have to survive and keep their organizational success in the highest level because of the high expectations from school stakeholders. Taking place in such a fierce competitive environment requires being more effective and efficient. Coaching can be a key to success for schools if it can be implemented in the school as a whole. The previous research findings show that if coaching techniques can be used effectively by the school principal, it becomes an effective motivation resource and performance booster not only for the teachers but also for the other staff and students. Keywords: Coach; coaching; principals; teacher; performanc

Thomas Kuhn’un Felsefesi ve Türkiye’ye Yansımaları

This study investigates Thomas Kuhn’s philosophy that had broad influence in philosophy of science by his book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, and the contributions of his philosophy to Turkish philosophical literature. Kuhnian part of the picture of science debates brings to light considering the works done in Turkey upon the philosophy of Kuhn. In the first part of the thesis, T. Kuhn's life and works are mentioned. The second part focuses on Kuhn's philosophy of science and the concept of paradigm. In the third part, publications on the Kuhnian understanding of science are determined and in the fourth part, finally, general evaluations are made on these publications and studies

Reinforcement Learning Based Artificial Immune Classifier

One of the widely used methods for classification that is a decision-making process is artificial immune systems. Artificial immune systems based on natural immunity system can be successfully applied for classification, optimization, recognition, and learning in real-world problems. In this study, a reinforcement learning based artificial immune classifier is proposed as a new approach. This approach uses reinforcement learning to find better antibody with immune operators. The proposed new approach has many contributions according to other methods in the literature such as effectiveness, less memory cell, high accuracy, speed, and data adaptability. The performance of the proposed approach is demonstrated by simulation and experimental results using real data in Matlab and FPGA. Some benchmark data and remote image data are used for experimental results. The comparative results with supervised/unsupervised based artificial immune system, negative selection classifier, and resource limited artificial immune classifier are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed new method

Improving Striping Operations through System Optimization - Phase 2

Striping operations generate a significant workload for MoDOT maintenance operations. The requirement for each striping crew to replenish its stock of paint and other consumable items from a bulk storage facility, along with the necessity to make several passes on most of the routes to stripe all the lines on that road, introduce the potential for inefficiencies in the form of deadhead miles that striping crew vehicles must travel while not actively applying pavement markings. These inefficiencies generate unnecessary travel, wasted time, and vehicle wear. Phase 2 updates a 2015 project that developed a decision support tool for scheduling and routing road striping operations. The updates presented in the final report improve the optimization model, which generates more user-friendly outputs

THE EFFECT OF POTENTIAL ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY AND INNOVATION ON COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE: A MODEL FROM PARTICIPATIVE LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVE

ABSTRAC

Does hormonal control obviate positive airway pressure therapy in acromegaly with sleep-disordered breathing?

SummaryIntroductionAcromegaly is a disease in which uncontrolled release of growth hormone occurs after closure of epiphyseal plates, causing changes in the body that can lead to sleep disordered breathing (SDB). No definite guidelines regarding the treatment of SDB in acromegaly are available. In this study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence of SDB in acromegaly and whether hormonal control alters the necessity of positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy in acromegaly patients with SDB.MethodsForty-two acromegaly patients were included in the study and divided into two groups according to disease status, i.e., active or well controlled. All patients underwent polysomnography. Fourteen patients with active acromegaly were diagnosed with SDB and were evaluated for PAP therapy with polysomnography both before and 6 months after disease control was achieved.ResultsSleep-disorder breathing was diagnosed in 22 of 42 patients, 7 of 20 patients with controlled-disease and 15 of 20 patients with active diseases. There were significant reductions in respiratory disturbance index (RDI), apnea index, desaturation index, central apnea number, and rapid eye movement-phase RDI at the control polysomnography. Initially, PAP therapy was indicated in 12 of 14 patients and PAP therapy indication held in 11 patients after acromegaly control was achieved.ConclusionOur study revealed that over half of patients with acromegaly had SDB. Furthermore, SDB severity decreases with acromegaly treatment; however, this decrease does not change the indication for PAP therapy; therefore, PAP therapy should not be delayed in acromegalic SDB patients