INDIVIDUAL VS. PAIRED FORMATS OF ORAL PROFICIENCY EXAM: DOES IT MATTER IN TERMS OF SCORES AND PREFERENCE?

The purpose of this preliminary study is to examine whether there is a relationship between the achievement scores and two different test formats used in speaking assessment – paired or individual. The study also attempts to explore the test takers’ preferences pertaining to the test formats employed and the reasons behind. The participants of this study are 25 freshman students studying in the English Language Teaching department of a well-known state university in Turkey. The data used in the quantitative analysis comes from the grades scored by the same cohort of students in two oral proficiency exams conducted within the scope of course assessment during the regular exam period of the program. Secondly, the qualitative data was obtained from the semi structured interviews carried out with 14 of the 25 students immediately after the paired speaking test. The interview questions specifically sought to reveal how the participants felt about the paired format of speaking test, how they would compare this format to the individual format, and if they were given the chance which format they would prefer and why. We have come to see that students got better scores in the paired speaking test format that we designed in the form of paired discussion in comparison to the individual format where the test takers’ interlocutor is the course lecturer. The difference in the mean scores obtained in the two different formatted exams was found statistically significant. Our qualitative findings showed that the majority of the students liked and supported the practice of being paired.  Article visualizations

Developmental Plasticity, Ecology, and Evolutionary Radiation of Nematodes of Diplogastridae

Explaining organismal diversity and adaptation are the two central aims of evolutionary biology. In this thesis, I address these questions using a comparative evolutionary approach and nematodes of the family Diplogastridae as a study system. Systematic sampling of diplogastrid nematodes resulted in the discovery of numerous nematode species, their novel traits and ecological associations, providing reference points for consequent comparative evolutionary analyses. I first studied forces that drive evolutionary radiation and speciation in a host-symbiont system, specifically in a diverse group of predatory nematodes of the genus Micoletzkya, which are associated with bark beetles. I showed that nematode evolutionary radiation resulted from parallel divergence with their beetle hosts and was also shaped by preferential hosts shifts among closely related hosts, thus highlighting the roles of isolation and adaptation in the evolution of host-symbiont systems. I then built a new phylogenetic framework for the family Diplogastridae and used it to investigate the evolutionary implications of discrete phenotypic plasticity (polyphenism), specifically its impact on evolutionary tempo and the evolution of novelties. As a result, I identified that the origin of polyphenism coincided with a sharp increase in phenotypic complexity, which surprisingly decreased after secondary loss of plasticity; the rates of evolution, however, became even higher after phenotype fixation, which provided evidence for developmental character release. These results gave original support for a role of developmental plasticity in evolutionary diversification. Finally, I have discovered several new species of Pristionchus, which live in symbiosis with figs and fig wasps and show an extreme polyphenism with up to five discrete eco-morphotypes per species. This study revealed that adaptive radiation, or the rapid filling of contrasting ecological niches need not to be associated with diversifying selection on genotypes and can be based on discontinuous phenotypic plasticity

Structural health monitoring of bridges for improving transportation security

Structural health monitoring (SHM) is a promising technology for determining the condition of significant transportation structures objectively for efficient management and preservation of transportation assets. In addition to identifying, locating, and quantifying damage and deterioration due to effects of operation, aging, and natural hazards, the need for taking terrorism-related hazards into account has become evident after 9/11 terrorist attacks. Key transportation facilities like major bridges were identified by Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as possible terrorist targets since their loss or even temporary deficiency could lead to major impacts on economy and mobility. Several governmental, local, and private organizations have been working on identifying possible modes of threats, determining and sorting vulnerable structures, and establishing ways to prevent, detect and respond to such attacks. Authorities are also investigating ways to integrate current and future bridge management systems with security surveillance systems. Highway bridges are key links of the transportation system. This paper reviews security measures for bridges and discuss possible integration of structural health and security monitoring for improving security and safety of bridges and emergency management after a natural or man-made disaster

Has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the situation of using dietary supplements?

Amaç: Bu çalışma COVID-19 pandemisi sürecinde bir vakıf üniversitesinin hemşirelik bölümü öğrencilerinin besin desteklerini kullanma durumlarının incelenmesi amacıyla yapılmıştır. Gereç ve Yöntem: Tanımlayıcı kesitsel tipte olan bu çalışmanın örneklem grubunu Kasım-Aralık 2020 tarihleri arasında bir vakıf üniversitesinde öğrenim gören 216 birinci sınıf hemşirelik öğrencisi oluşturmuştur. Veriler sosyo-demografik özellikler ve COVID-19 pandemisine yönelik endişe durumları formu, besin destekleri kullanım alışkanlıklarını değerlendirmek üzere araştırmacılar tarafından hazırlanan anket ve Beslenme Davranışları Ölçeği kullanılarak toplanmıştır. Bulgular: Öğrencilerin %68,5’i COVID-19 pandemisinden önce besin desteklerini kullanmıyorken, %45,4’ü pandemi başından itibaren besin destek ürünü kullandığını belirtmiştir. Öğrencilerin %32,4’ü hastalıklara karşı dirençli olmak amacıyla besin desteklerini kullandığını, %31,5 oranla en fazla vitamin ve mineral desteklerinin kullanıldığı saptanmıştır. Öğrencilerin %19’u kendisi araştırarak besin desteklerine ulaşırken, %39,8’i medyada yer alan reklamlardan etkilendiğini söylemiştir. Öğrencilerin %67,1’i sağlıklı beslendiğini düşünmekte, %60,2’si gün içinde öğün atladığını belirtmiştir. En yüksek 24 puan alınabilen beslenme davranışları ölçeğinden, katılımcıların aldıkları ortalama puan 12,47±3,61 olarak bulunmuştur. Sonuç: Üniversite öğrencilerinin COVID-19 pandemisine bağlı olarak bilinçsiz besin desteği kullanımının arttığı ve sağlıklı beslenme davranışları düzeyinin düşük olduğu belirlenmiştir.Objective: This study was conducted to examine the use of dietary supplements by nursing department students of a foundation university during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: The sample group of this crosssectional study consisted of 216 first-year nursing students who were studying at a foundation university between November and December 2020. The data were collected sociodemographic characteristics and concern form for the COVID- 19 pandemic, habits of using dietary supplements questionnaire, and the Nutrition Behavior Scale. Results: While 68.5% of the students did not use dietary supplements before the COVID-19 pandemic, 45.4% of them stated that they used dietary supplements from the beginning of the pandemic. It was found that 32.4% of the students used dietary supplements to be resistant to diseases, and the most vitamin and mineral supplements were used with a rate of 31.5%. While 19% of the students accessed dietary supplements by researching themselves, 39.8% of them stated that they were affected by the advertisements in the media. 67.1% of the students think that they eat healthy, 60.2% of them stated that they skip meals during the day. The mean score obtained by the participants from the nutritional behavior scale with the highest score of 24 was found to be 12.47 ± 3.61. Conclusion: It was determined that the use of unconscious dietary supplements increased and the level of healthy eating behaviors was low due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Travel health services in Turkey and travel health practices in COVID-19 pandemic

Ulaşım araçlarının gelişmesi ile şehirler ve ülkelerarası seyahatteki artışı görmek mümkündür. Seyahat edilecek bölgenin beslenme koşulları, gıda ve su hijyeni ve sık rastlanılan hastalıklar bireylerin sağlığını olumsuz yönde etkileyebilmektedir. Bu durum seyahat sağlığı kavramını ortaya çıkarmıştır. Son yıllarda seyahatlerdeki artışla ülkeler arasında çeşitli bulaşıcı hastalıkların yayılımı söz konusu olmaktadır. 31 Aralık 2019 tarihinde Çin’de başlayarak kısa sürede küresel salgın haline gelen COVID-19 bu duruma örnektir. Halk sağlığının korunması amacıyla koruyucu sağlık hizmetlerinin uygulanması seyahat sağlığı hizmetleri için büyük önem taşımaktadır. Bu uygulamalar tüm dünyada seyahat sağlığı hizmetlerinde büyük roller alan ve yeni bir hemşirelik alanı olarak kabul edilen seyahat sağlığı hemşireliği sayesinde sunulmaktadır. Ülkemizde bulunan seyahat sağlığı merkezlerinde hemşireler tarafından bağışıklama hizmetleri ve seyahatle ilgili eğitim ve danışmanlık hizmeti verilerek bulaşıcı hastalıkların yayılmasının önüne geçilmek istenmektedir. Bu derlemede, dünyada yaygınlaşan seyahat sağlığı hemşireliği kavramı açıklanarak ülkemizde COVID-19 pandemisi sürecinde uygulanan seyahat sağlığı hizmetleri ve hemşirelik uygulamalarına ilişkin bilgi verilmesi amaçlanmıştır.With the development of transportation, it is possible to see the increase in travel between cities and countries. Nutritional conditions, food or water hygiene, and common diseases of the region to be traveled can adversely affect the individuals' health. This situation has revealed the concept of travel health. With the increase of travel in recent years, the spread of various infectious diseases has emerged between countries. COVID-19, which started in China on December 31, 2019, and became a global epidemic in a short time, is an example of this situation. The implementation of preventive health services to protect public health is of great importance for travel health services. These practices are offered thanks to travel health nursing, which plays a significant role in travel health services worldwide. It is aimed to prevent the spread of infectious diseases by providing immunization and travel-related consultancy services by nurses in travel health centers in Turkey. This review aims to explain the concept of travel health nursing, which has become widespread in the world, and to provide information about travel health services and nursing practices during the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey

Low-energy electric dipole response in 120Sn

The electric dipole strength in 120Sn has been extracted from proton inelastic scattering experiments at E_p = 295 MeV and at forward angles including 0 degree. Below neutron threshoild it differs from the results of a 120Sn(gamma,gamma') experiment and peaks at an excitation energy of 8.3 MeV. The total strength corresponds to 2.3(2)% of the energy-weighted sum rule and is more than three times larger than what is observed with the (gamma,gamma') reaction. This implies a strong fragmentation of the E1 strength and/or small ground state branching ratios of the excited 1- states.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Dipole polarizability of 120Sn and nuclear energy density functionals

The electric dipole strength distribution in 120Sn between 5 and 22 MeV has been determined at RCNP Osaka from a polarization transfer analysis of proton inelastic scattering at E_0 = 295 MeV and forward angles including 0{\deg}. Combined with photoabsorption data an electric dipole polarizability \alpha_D(120Sn) = 8.93(36) fm^3 is extracted. The dipole polarizability as isovector observable par excellence carries direct information on the nuclear symmetry energy and its density dependence. The correlation of the new value with the well established \alpha_D(208Pb) serves as a test of its prediction by nuclear energy density functionals (EDFs). Models based on modern Skyrme interactions describe the data fairly well while most calculations based on relativistic Hamiltonians cannot.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure