Facial mask for prevention of allergic rhinitis symptoms

ObjectivesWe reviewed the role of facial masks in preventing allergic rhinitis (AR) symptoms.MethodsThe literature survey was performed in PubMed, EBSCO, UpToDate, and Proquest Central databases of Kırıkkale University and Google and Google Scholar databases.ResultsAeroallergens are microscopic airborne particles that trigger AR symptoms. In sensitive people, the type 1 hypersensitivity reaction against these allergens occurs when these microparticles enter the nasal mucosa via inhalation. Pollens, molds, dust mites, and animal dander are only some of the allergens suspected of contributing to AR symptoms. The treatment guidelines for AR extensively encompass allergy avoidance and environmental management as the first-line treatment. It is recommended that those who experience seasonal symptoms try to avoid their triggers whenever possible. While medical masks filter out particles larger than 3 μm, FFP2 masks are effective against particles as small as 0.004 μm. Since both mask types are effective in filtering pollen larger than 5 μm in size, they can be used to prevent pollen exposure. The “antiviral protection” provided by medical and FFP2 masks to hospital employees is roughly equivalent. Thus, both should be effective against direct local (eye) or indirect inhaled (nose, bronchial) pollen exposure. For the masks to do their job, they need to fit correctly.ConclusionFace mask affects AR patients' quality of life and reduces AR symptoms' severity

Problems of Accounting Professionals Residing in Istanbul and the Suggested Solutions

Some problems of accounting professionals in Turkey were solved with the introduction of Law on Public Accountants, Certified Public Accountants and Sworn-in Certified Public Accountants in 1989. However, many other problems still remain to be solved for accountants in Turkey as of 2018. There were two main objectives of this study. The first one was to identify the problems faced by accounting professionals living in Istanbul, Turkey and the second one was to come up with solutions for these problems. The eesearch took advantage of questionnaire methodology. According to research findings, accounting occupation doesn’t have a professional identity in Turkey. Also, accounting education given in universities is perceived as inadequate. The leading reason why accounting professionals are only considered as bookkeepers in Turkey is knowledge defficiencies. The main motivation behind choosing the accountant career path is commercial (monetary). The leading reason for lack of confidence against accountants in Turkey is ignorance of accounting ethics. Lack of practice is the leading deficiency concerning accounting education in Turkey. This is followed by insufficient accounting ethics education. Leading problems of accounting professionals in Turkish business life are economical. Our literature review shows that, expectations from public authorities, professional accounting chambers and bodies increase to solve the problems of accounting professionals. Thus, the suggested solutions by this study to eliminate determined problems of accounting professionals should be evaluated and considered by public authorities, professional accounting chambers and bodies. Moreover, effective communication, coordination and agreement on legal arrangements must be present among accounting professionals, chambers, bodies and public authorities to solve the problems of accounting professionals residing in Istanbul, Turkey

Gençlik ve spor taşra teşkilatı personelinin eğitim ve medeni durumunun iş doyumu üzerine etkisi

Bireylerin tek başlarına gerçekleştiremeyecekleri amaçlarını başkalarıyla bir araya gelip grup olarak çaba, bilgi ve yeteneklerini ortak faydaya ulaştıran iş bölümü ve düzen olan örgütler (Şimşek, 1999: 28), insanlar tarafından kendi yetersizliklerini yenmek için kurulmuşlardır. (Hicks, 1975: 11) Örgütteki ilişkiler genellikle karşılıklı hizmet temeline dayalı işlevsel bir ilişkidir. İşlevsel bir ilişkide, karşılıklı hizmet, yardımlaşma, dayanışma, güven ve destek esastır (Başaran, 1982: 208). Çalışanların işlerine ve işyerlerine karşı tutumlarıyla ilgili araştırmaların temelde çok önemi vardır. Bu araştırmalar sayesinde insan kaynakları ve onların en etkili biçimde kullanılması konusundaki bilinç artmakta, tutumların olumlu yönde geliştirilmesi ve değiştirilmesi elde edilebilmektedir. (Ramazanoğlu, 2001) Bu bağlamda, sporda elit seviyede hizmet sunabilme, kaliteli bir yönetim tarzını başarı ile uygulayabilmesi ve uyumlu bir birlikteliğin tesis edilebilmesi için en üst düzeyde bir hoşnutluğun sağlanabilmesi gerekmektedir. (Ramazanoğlu vd., 2002) Bu çalışmanın amacı, Gençlik ve Spor Genel Müdürlüğü Taşra Teşkilatı personelinin hoşnutluk seviyelerini ortaya çıkararak, işlerinden duydukları memnuniyeti tespit etmek ve çalışanlar açısından değerlendirmesini yapmaktır. Bu bağlamda, söz konusu illerdeki personelin bakış açısı temel alınarak, eğitim ve medeni durumlarına göre hoşnutluk düzeyleri incelenmiştir. Gençlik ve Spor Genel Müdürlüğü Taşra Teşkilatlarından Gaziantep, Kahramanmaraş, Osmaniye, Malatya ve Elazığ İl Müdürlüklerinde çalışan 56 personele Minnesota İş Doyum Ölçeğinin kısa formu uygulanmıştır. Anket uygulamasından elde edilen veriler SPSS’de değerlendirilmiş ve frekans analizi ve puan hesaplaması yapılmıştır

Sporun toplumsal boyutlarının değerlendirilmesi

İnsanların spor yapma alışkanlığını kazanması, yeteneklerinin geliştirilmesi açısından ve sağlıklı kalabilmesi için spor yapmasının gerekli olduğu toplumun her kesimince bilinmektedir. Toplum içerisinde sosyalleşmede bir araç olan spor, fert ve toplum ilişkilerinin geliştirilmesinde de etkili olmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, spor ve toplum ilişkisi içeriğinde ilgili literatür imkan dahilinde taranıp elde edilen veriler ilişkilendirilerek değerlendirilmiştir. Bu çalışma analitik metot kullanılarak yürütülmüştür. Ferdin spora olan ilgisi ve bağı, toplum içinde yaşama kurallarına uyumu zorunlu hale getirmiştir. Spor fiziksel, ruhsal ve toplumsal gelişimde de önemli bir olgudur. Spor, ferde sabırlı ve enerjik olmayı, sosyal grup ve toplum ile bütünleşmeyi sağlarken, fert ile toplum arası ilişkileri daha ahlaki kılmaktadır. Spor sayesinde insanlar aynı amaçlara yönelmeye, birlikte hareket etme duygusunu yaşamaya başlarlar. Sonuç olarak; insan yaşamı ile bütünleşmiş olan spor, insanların sağlıklı, başarılı mutlu olmasında ve yüksek moral gücüne sahip olmasında çok önemli rol oynamaktadır. Spor, insanın toplumda diğer insanlara ulaşmasında bir unsurdur. Yine insanlar spor sayesinde aynı amaçlara yönelmeye, birlikte hareket etme duygusunu yaşamaya başlarlar. Spor, fiziksel, ruhsal ve toplumsal gelişimde de fayda sağlamaktadır

Production of PEG grafted PAN copolymers and their electrospun nanowebs as novel thermal energy storage materials

This paper deals with the synthesis of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) grafted poly(acrylo nitrile) (PAN) copolymers as novel solid-solid phase change materials via two step free radical polymerization reaction. The structural and thermal characterizations of the synthesized copolymers, namely PEG1500-g-PAN, PEG2000-g-PAN, PEG4000-g-PAN, PEG10000-g-PAN and PEG35000-g-PAN, were performed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry. They were thermally stable and had the capability of absorbing and releasing great amount of heat ranging between 70 and 126 Jg-1 at the temperature interval of 40‒65 oC during heating and successive cooling cycles. To transform the PEG-g-PAN copolymers into the assemblies appropriate for thermal energy storage (TES) systems, thermo-regulating PEG-g-PAN nanowebs were also produced by means of coaxial electrospinning. The SEM images of PEG-g-PAN nanowebs displayed that they were all composed of hollow cylindrical ultrafine fibers with the average diameters ranging in 175‒277 nm. During the differential scanning calorimetry measurements, those nanowebs demonstrated repeatable solid-solid phase change with the heat storage capacities varying between 35 and 75 Jg-1 at the same temperature interval with the corresponding PEG-g- PAN copolymers. The PEG-g-PAN copolymers and their electrospun nanowebs can be promising TES materials and can have convenient industrial applications

Single-material MoS2 thermoelectric junction enabled by substrate engineering

To realize a thermoelectric power generator, typically, a junction between two materials with different Seebeck coefficients needs to be fabricated. Such differences in Seebeck coefficients can be induced by doping, which renders it difficult when working with two-dimensional (2d) materials. However, doping is not the only way to modulate the Seebeck coefficient of a 2d material. Substrate-altered electron–phonon scattering mechanisms can also be used to this end. Here, we employ the substrate effects to form a thermoelectric junction in ultrathin, few-layer MoS2 films. We investigated the junctions with a combination of scanning photocurrent microscopy and scanning thermal microscopy. This allows us to reveal that thermoelectric junctions form across the substrate-engineered parts. We attribute this to a gating effect induced by interfacial charges in combination with alterations in the electron–phonon scattering mechanisms. This work demonstrates that substrate engineering is a promising strategy for developing future compact thin-film thermoelectric power generators

Children in 2077: Designing Children’s Technologies in the Age of Transhumanism

What for and how will we design children’s technologies in the transhumanism age, and what stance will we take as designers? This paper aims to answer this question with 13 fictional abstracts from sixteen authors of different countries, institutions and disciplines. Transhumanist thinking envisions enhancing human body and mind by blending human biology with technological augmentations. Fundamentally, it seeks to improve the human species, yet the impacts of such movement are unknown and the implications on children’s lives and technologies were not explored deeply. In an age, where technologies can clearly be defined as transhumanist, such as under-skin chips or brain-machine interfaces, our aim is to reveal probable pitfalls and benefits of those technologies on children’s’ lives by using the power of design fiction

Structure-property behavior of poly(ethylene oxide) based poly(urethane-urea) copolymers and their nanocomposites reinforced by silica nanoparticles

Structure-property relationships of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) based poly(urethane-urea) (PU) copolymers and PU-silica nanocomposites form the basis of this thesis work. On this basis, a brief introduction is provided in Chapter 1. In Chapter 2, the effects of PEO soft segment molecular weight (2000, 4600 and 8000 g/mol) and annealing temperature (60 and 100 °C) on the development of polymer morphology and mechanical properties are investigated. Results strongly suggest that both parameters have significant effect on the final morphologies and mechanical properties of the copolymers. In Chapter 3, the effect of PEO soft segment molecular weight on the glass transition, crystallinity, molecular mobility, and segmental dynamics of these copolymers is investigated using modulated differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (DRS). Results mainly suggest that the soft segment molecular weight also significantly affects the thermal properties and five different relaxation mechanisms of the copolymers. In Chapter 4, structure-property behavior of PU-silica nanocomposites is investigated using several characterization techniques. In particular, thermal and mechanical properties of the samples are evaluated as a function of silica content. Results clearly suggest that the silica nanoparticles significantly tailor the thermal and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites in conjunction with the effect of soft segment molecular weight. In Chapter 5, the dynamic glass transition of the rigid amorphous fraction in PU-silica nanocomposites is demonstrated by several advanced characterization techniques. Results mainly suggest a plausible explanation for the discrepancy between Tg values obtained by dielectric relaxation spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry in the literature. It is that DRS results in Tg values taking into account the bound polymer, whereas DSC does not. In Chapter 6, key design principles are summarized to provide a practical guideline for the production of high performance PU copolymers and PU-silica nanocomposites, and a better understanding of their structure-property relationships in accordance with the elaborated investigations presented in Chapter 2, 3, 4 and 5