Effects of Body Mass Index on Adolescents’ Social Comparisons and Body Cathexis in Istanbul

This descriptive-comparative study was carried out to examine the relationship between the distribution of body mass index (BMI) values and scores on the Social Comparison Scale (SCS) and the Body Cathexis Scale (BCS). The study was carried out among 373 randomly selected students who were currently studying at a government private high school (N=208) or a public high school (N=165) located in Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey. The students’ BMI percentile ranges were compared with scores on the BCS and SCS. Data from the study were evaluated statistically by percentages, means, t-tests, tests of analysis of variance (ANOVA), and the Kruskall-Wallis test. The mean age (in years) of the participating adolescents was 16.1±0.8. In all, 61% of the participating students were male (N=227), 45% were attending 10th grade (N=169), and 56% (N=208) were attending a government private high school. The great majority (92.5%) of the adolescents had a BMI between the 5th and 95th percentiles (5th to <85th is normal; 85th to <95th is overweight or at risk for obesity). The Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.93 for the BCS and 0.83 for the SCS. Judging from this study, social comparison and satisfaction with one’s body are not related to BMI among Turkish adolescents. Also according to this study, female Turkish adolescents are more satisfied with their body image than are their male counterparts

Effectiveness of immediate appointment scheduling in smoking cessation clinics for patients with chronic airway diseases: Preliminary results from a randomized trial

INTRODUCTION Patients with airway diseases who bear the burden of smoking need access to smoking cessation support. We aimed to investigate the impact of immediately scheduled appointments on access to smoking cessation compared with usual care in this patient group. METHODS This multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label study conducted between November 2022 and June 2023 at pulmonary outpatient clinics. The study included adult patients who were current smokers and diagnosis of asthma, COPD, or bronchiectasis for at least six months. Sequentially randomization was used for the allocation of patients in a 1:1 ratio to two arms: the usual support arm (representing the current standard care procedure) and the immediate support arm (involving intensive brief cessation advice followed by the immediate arrangement of an appointment at the same clinic's smoking cessation service). After one week, both patient groups were contacted by phone to assess their quit attempts and whether they had sought assistance from smoking cessation outpatient clinics (SCCs). RESULTS A total of 397 patients were enrolled in the study, with 199 allocated usual support arm and 198 allocated to the immediate support arm. Within first week, 18.1% of patients in the usual support arm and 77.3% of patients the immediate support arm sought assistance from the smoking cessation (p<0.001). The rate of smokers without an intention to quit was 56.7% usual support arm and 27.7% in the immediate support arm in the first of follow-up. Immediate appointment scheduling was significantly associated with a 13-fold (OR=13.38; 95% CI: 8.00-22.38) increase in referral rates multivariate logistic regression model. CONCLUSIONS Arranging instant appointments has increased access to SCCs times compared to the usual care, this group of patients should be given immediate appointment to SCCs

Post-covid interstitial lung disease: how do we deal with this new entity?

Background: In the postacute phase of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), survivors may have persistent symptoms, lung function abnormalities, and sequelae lesions on thoracic computed tomography (CT). This new entity has been defined as post-COVID interstitial lung disease (ILD) or residual disease. Aims: To evaluate the characteristics, risk factors and clinical significance of post-COVID ILD. Study design: Multicenter cross-sectional analysis of data from a randomized clinical study. Methods: In this study, patients with persistent respiratory symptoms 3 months after recovery from COVID-19 were evaluated by two pulmonologists and a radiologist. post-COVID ILD was defined as the presence of respiratory symptoms, hypoxemia, restrictive defect on lung function tests, and interstitial changes on follow-up high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT). Results: At the three-month follow-up, 375 patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome were evaluated, and 262 patients were found to have post-COVID ILD. The most prevalent complaints were dyspnea (n = 238, 90.8%), exercise intolerance (n = 166, 63.4%), fatigue (n = 142, 54.2%), and cough (n = 136, 52%). The mean Medical Research Council dyspnea score was 2.1 ± 0.9, oxygen saturation was 92.2 ± 5.9%, and 6-minute walking distance was 360 ± 140 meters. The mean diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide was 58 ± 21, and the forced vital capacity was 70% ± 19%. Ground glass opacities and fibrotic bands were the most common findings on thoracic HRCT. Fibrosis-like lesions such as interlobular septal thickening and traction bronchiectasis were observed in 38.3% and 27.9% of the patients, respectively. No honeycomb cysts were observed. Active smoking [odds ratio (OR), 1.96; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.44-2.67), intensive care unit admission during the acute phase (OR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.1-1.95), need for high-flow nasal oxygen (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.42-1.9) or non-invasive ventilation (OR, 1.31; 95% CI, 0.8-2.07), and elevated serum lactate dehydrogenase levels (OR, 1.23; 95% CI 1.18-1.28) were associated with the development of post-COVID ILD. At the 6-month follow-up, the respiratory symptoms and pulmonary functions had improved spontaneously without any specific treatment in 35 patients (13.4%). The radiological interstitial lesions had spontaneously regressed in 54 patients (20.6%). Conclusion: The co-existence of respiratory symptoms, radiological parenchymal lesions, and pulmonary functional abnormalities which suggest a restrictive ventilatory defect should be defined as post-COVID-19 ILD. However, the term “fibrosis” should be used carefully. Active smoking, severe COVID-19, and elevated lactate dehydrogenase level are the main risk factors of this condition. These post-COVID functional and radiological changes could disappear over time in 20% of the patients

Undergraduate students' use of metacognitive strategies while reading

Bu araştırmanın amacı, üniversite öğrencilerinin okuma sürecinde üstbilişsel stratejileri kullanma durumlarını belirlemektir. Tarama modelinin kullanıldığı araştırmada 2014-2015 eğitim yılında Bartın Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Sınıf Öğretmenliği ve Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmenliği Lisans Programları ve Edebiyat Fakültesi Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı ve Sosyoloji lisans programlarında eğitim gören toplam 236 öğrenci örnekleme alınmıştır. Veri toplama aracı olarak Okuma Stratejileri Üstbilişsel Farkındalık Envanteri ve iki adet Okuduğunu Anlama Başarı Testi kullanılmıştır. Verilerin analizinde SPSS 22.00 paket programı kullanılmıştır. Araştırmada öğrencilerin ölçek geneline ve alt boyutlarına ilişkin ortalamaları "yüksek" olarak bulunmuştur. Öğrencilerin okuma sürecinde üstbilişsel stratejileri kullanma durumları cinsiyet, sınıf düzeyi, bölüm ve fakülte değişkenlerine göre incelenmiştir. Ölçek ortalamalarında kızlar lehine ve dördüncü sınıflar lehine anlamlı bir farklılık bulunmuş, kızların ve dördüncü sınıf öğrencilerinin okuma sürecinde daha fazla üstbilişsel stratejileri kullandıkları ortaya çıkmıştır. Kızlar lehine ortaya çıkan farklılığın Sınıf Öğretmenliği ve Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Lisans Programı öğrencilerinde olduğu görülmüştür. Sınıf Öğretmenliği Lisans Programındaki kız öğrencilerin "Genel Okuma Stratejileri" ile "Okuma Stratejilerini Destekleme" stratejilerini, Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Lisans Programı öğrencilerinin ise "Genel Okuma Stratejilerini" daha fazla kullandıkları görülmüştür. Ayrıca üstbilişsel stratejileri kullanma ile anlama düzeyi arasında ilişki incelenmiş ve öyküleyici metinleri okuma sürecinde anlamlı ilişki bulunmuştur. Öğrencilere derslerde üstbilişsel stratejileri kullanma konusunda eğitim verilme durumunu belirlemek için dört lisans programının (Sınıf Öğretmenliği, Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmenliği, Sosyoloji ve Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı) ders ve içerikleri incelenmiştir. Sınıf Öğretmenliği ve Sosyal Bilgiler Öğretmenliği Lisans Programlarında üstbilişsel stratejileri kullanma konusunda ders verilirken, Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı ile Sosyoloji Lisans Programlarının ders içeriklerinde böyle bir eğitimin verilmediği görülmüştür. Bu çalışmanın sonuçlarından hareketle üniversitelerde lisans düzeyinde erkek ve kız öğrencilere okumada üstbilişsel stratejileri kullanma eğitimi verilebilir. Ayrıca birinci sınıf ile dördüncü sınıflar arasındaki farkı dikkate alarak lisans eğitimi boyunca öğrencilere okuma ve öğrenme stratejilerine yönelik ders ve uygulamalı eğitimler verilmelidir.The purpose of this study was to examine the perceived use of metacognitive strategies during reading by undergraduate students. Survey method was used in the current study. A total number of 236 students studying at the Primary Education and Social Studies Teaching Departments at Faculty of Education and Turkish Language and Literature and Sociology Departments at the Faculty of Literature at Bartın University during 2014-2015 academic year made up the sample group of the study. Among the participating students, 99 of them were studying at the Faculty of Eduation whilst 137 of them were studying at the Faculty of Literature. And of these 236 students, 141 of them were freshmen whilst 95 of them were senior. The data collection tools used in this study were Metacognitive Awareness of Reading Strategies Inventory (MARSI) and two Reading Comprehension Tests- informative and narrative texts. SPSS 22.00 package programme was used in analyzing the collected data. Overall strategy use among the participating students both for the whole Inventory and the sub-scales of the inventory was found as "excellent". Based on the research questions of the study, whether there was a significant difference among students' perceived use of strategies in reading based on gender, grade, faculty and department was investigated. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference based on gender, in favor of girls. Similarly, a statistically significance difference was found among freshmen and senior students, in favor of senior students. The analyses conducted to investigate in which sub-scales the difference between girls-boys arose revealed that the difference among girls and boys occurred in Global Reading Strategies and Support Reading Strategies. This difference between girls and boys was found to be in Global Reading Strategies and Support Reading Strategies in Primary Education Department and in Global Reading Strategies in Turkish Language and Literature Department. Another finding of the study was that there was a statistically significant grade difference in the use of Global Reading Strategies and Support Reading Strategies in favor of senior students. Another finding was that as the narrative reading comprehension text increased, so did the strategy use in overall scale as well as in Global Reading Strategies and Problem Solving Strategies sub-scales. In order to investigate whether students receive any education on the use of metacognitive strategies during the four-year education, the courses and the course contents of the four departments in the study were examined. It was found that in Primary Education and Social Studies Education course contents the use of metacognitive strategies was included whilst in Turkish Language and Literature and Sociology course contents did not include anything related to teaching the use of strategies. In the light of the findings in this study, it can be suggested that a reading strategies training considering the gender differences in the use of metacognitive strategies in reading can be provided to students. In addition, based on the grade difference between freshmen and senior students, in favor of senior students, reading and learning strategies training could be provided for students during undergraduate education

Özgün sinyal işleme algoritmaları kullanarak elektrik ark ocaklarında ışık kırpışmasının değerlendirilmesi.

In this research work, two new flickermeters are proposed to estimate the light flicker caused by electric arc furnaces (EAFs) where the system frequency deviates significantly. In these methods, analytical expressions of the instantaneous light flicker sensation are obtained beginning from a voltage waveform and these expressions are used to obtain a flicker estimation method based on the IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) flickermeter. First method is a spectral decomposition based approach using DFT to estimate the light flicker. The leakage effect of the DFT algorithm due to fundamental frequency variation is reduced by employing spectral amplitude correction procedure around the fundamental frequency. Second method is a Kalman filter based approach, in which the frequency domain components of the voltage waveform are obtained by Kalman filtering. Then these components are used to obtain the light flicker. Since the frequency decomposition is obtained by Kalman filtering, no leakage effect of the DFT is involved in case of frequency deviations which is an important advantage. Both methods are tested on both simulated data and field data obtained from three different EAF plants where the flicker level and frequency variation is considerably high. The comparison with the digital realization of the IEC flickermeter shows that the methods are successful in estimating light flicker with low computational complexity. The methods are especially useful for conditions such as disturbances and subsequent system transients where the system frequency deviates significantly, since the methods avoid the need for online sampling rate adjustment to prevent the DFT leakage effect.M.S. - Master of Scienc

Examination of values education in Japan and the United Kingdom

Her toplumun oluşturduğu değerleri vardır. Bu değerlerin önce ailede sonra da okul ve diğer sosyal ortamlarda çocuklara verilmesi hedeflenir. Tarih boyunca daha çok dini eğitim bağlamında kullanılan ahlak ya da karakter eğitimi, bugün eğitim sistemlerinde doğrudan değerler eğitimi olarak ya da dolaylı yoldan diğer dersler kapsamında yer bulmaktadır. Değerler eğitimi ile çocuklarda adalet, dürüstlük, cesaret gibi özelliklerinin yanı sıra kişilerarası ilişkilerde nezaket, başkalarının görüşlerine saygı, topluma fayda sağlama gibi özellikler geliştirilmektedir. Dijital çağı yaşadığımız ve hayatımızın her alanında teknolojiyle iç içe olduğumuz bu dönemde dürüstlük, nezaket, teşekkür etme, başkalarının görüşlerine saygı duyma gibi ahlaki değerleri öğrencilerin içselleştirmesi sağlıklı bir toplum oluşturmak açısından önemlidir. Bu çalışmada İngiltere ve Japonya’da değerler eğitimi incelenmiştir. Bu eğitim, Japonya’da 16 yaşına kadar okullarda birer saatlik dersler halinde ve öz farkındalık, kişilerarası ilişkiler, toplum ile ilişkiler ve doğa ve evren ile ilişkiler kapsamında verilmektedir. İngiltere’de ise değerler eğitimi ayrı bir ders olarak verilmemekle birlikte öğrencilerin manevi, ahlaki, sosyal ve kültürel gelişiminin temel İngiliz değerlerinin gelişimini sağlaması öngörülmektedir. Her okulun misyonunu belirlerken yetiştireceği öğrencinin karakteriyle ilgili beklentilerin ifade edilmesi gerektiği vurgulanmıştır.Each society has its own values. Development of these values starts within the family and continues with school and other social environments. Used mostly within the scope of religious education throughout the history, moral education or character education today is either given as a separate class or spread within the learning outcomes of other subject areas in the curriculum. Through character education, such virtues as justice, honesty, courage are taught as well as such other virtues in interpersonal relations as courtesy, respect for others faith and beliefs, contribution to society. Internalization of such moral values as honesty, courtesy, thanking, respect for others beliefs are highly important in building a healthy society in this digital age. In this context, this study examines the character education/moral education in the UK and Japan. Moral education is provided as a separate class one hour every week until the end of compulsory education at 16 in Japan. It is provided within four perspectives which are self-awareness, relation to others, relation to society and relation to nature and the universe. In the UK, on the other hand, values education is not given as a separate class but in the existing Education Act it is stated that schools, as part of a broad and balanced curriculum, should promote the spiritual, moral, cultural, mental and physical development of pupils at the school and of society. Jubilee Center, functioning under the University of Birmingham emphasizes that all schools should state their expectations from the students they will educate

Interharmonics analysis of power signals with fundamental frequency deviation using Kalman filtering

In this paper a spectral decomposition-based method for interharmonic computation is proposed for power systems where the fundamental frequency fluctuates significantly. In the proposed method, the frequency domain components of the voltage waveform are obtained by Kalman filtering. Both the system fundamental frequency and the correct spectrum of the voltage waveform, and hence the exact interharrnonics are obtained. The proposed method is tested with both simulated and field data obtained from different electric arc furnace (EAF) plants, where the system frequency deviates continuously due to the fluctuating load demands. Since the interharmonic frequencies are obtained by using Kalman filtering, no leakage effect of the OFT-based methods is involved in case of frequency deviations, which is an important advantage of the proposed method