Data analysis in the ANTES System

Acanthosis nigricans is a skin condition that can be used as an indicator for the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future. Border Health Office, in University of Texas - Pan American, organizes screenings in schools for acanthosis nigricans. Screening results are, then, collected and evaluated in the Border Health Office. The ANTES System is a computer system that stores and manages the data collected in those screenings. This study is on the analysis of those collected data to track the progress of data entry, to evaluate the progress on obesity and related problems, and to discover the relationships between acanthosis nigricans and other features of students. Chapter I gives introductory information, while Chapter II summarizes The ANTES System. Chapters III, IV, and V explain the types of analyses performed

Development of Perceived School Effectiveness Scale: Validity and Reliability Study

The purpose of this study is to develop a scale that provides valid and reliable measurements in determining school effectiveness based on student perceptions. The study group consisted of 549 high school students in 2017-2018 academic year. Expert opinion was taken into consideration for the face and content validity of the scale. For the construct validity, exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses were conducted on different samples. As a result of EFA, a six-factor structure was obtained. Factors were named as "Space Adequacy", "Personal Development", "Social Value Consciousness", "Place Attractiveness", "Technological Support" and "Sports and Art Support". The factors explained 66.11% of the total variance. As a result of CFA, it was found that the six-factor structure had good fit of the model. In order to obtain evidence for its reliability, coefficients of Cronbach's alpha (a), stratified alpha and composite reliability were calculated. Results indicated that the scale items could measure the construct reliably. Item analysis proved that all the items had high discrimination in measuring the measured construct. As a result, it can be concluded that Perceived Effective School Scale is a scale that provide valid and reliable measurements in determining school effectiveness based on student perceptions

Algılanan Okul Etkililiği Ölçeği'nin Geliştirilmesi: Geçerlik ve Güvenirlik Çalışması

The purpose of this study is to develop a scale that provides valid and reliable measurements in determining school effectiveness based on student perceptions. The study group consisted of 549 high school students in 2017-2018 academic year. Expert opinion was taken into consideration for the face and content validity of the scale. For the construct validity, exploratory (EFA) and confirmatory (CFA) factor analyses were conducted on different samples. As a result of EFA, a six-factor structure was obtained. Factors were named as "Space Adequacy", "Personal Development", "Social Value Consciousness", "Place Attractiveness", "Technological Support" and "Sports and Art Support". The factors explained 66.11% of the total variance. As a result of CFA, it was found that the six-factor structure had good fit of the model. In order to obtain evidence for its reliability, coefficients of Cronbach's alpha (a), stratified alpha and composite reliability were calculated. Results indicated that the scale items could measure the construct reliably. Item analysis proved that all the items had high discrimination in measuring the measured construct. As a result, it can be concluded that Perceived Effective School Scale is a scale that provide valid and reliable measurements in determining school effectiveness based on student perceptions

Exploring how a second language teacher strategically manages a chaotic classroom: A multi-semiotic perspective to an L2 academic speaking class

The communication in language classrooms appears to be different when compared to other classes (i.e. Geography, History) since the language teacher is expected to create communicative opportunties for the learners to use and be exposed to the real language via activities. In line with this, the teacher ‘monopolises control of the discourse’ (Thornbury, 2000 as cited in Walsh, 2006) for a better communication and interaction within the classroom discourse. This essentially contributes to success of the learners in attaining communicative competence. Nevertheless, with a special focus on the classroom management, how the teacher realizes the dynamics of the classroom discourse seems to influence the quality of communicative practices. Adopting the ‘Chaotic universe model’ by Aydiner (2018) into the classroom discourse which can also be claimed to have ‘nonlinear interactions between components’, the major aim of the present research is to explore how the teacher can strategically manipulate the L2 classroom discourse in order to create better opportunities for learning and L2 practice. To this end, we analyze data from a Turkish as a Foreign/Second Language Classroom with the help of Conversation Analysis (CA) from a multimodal perspective and suggest that the teacher manages a pedagocially chaotic classroom. As an example, the manipulation and management by the teacher via non-verbal utterances (i.e., hm: or Mm hm) seems to function as ‘encouraging’ tokens matching with the embodied resources (i.e., crossing his arms and nodding his head) enabling the learner to continue even if the answers do not match with the ones in teacher’s agenda. This has simply maximized the learner participation since the learners kept interacting with the topic and the question up to a point where the teacher feels to question them to find out whether the students attempted to convey a particular meaning. Not only does the strategy help learners find a better opportunity to expand on the topic with a long student turn (relatively longer student turns) but also serves as the proof of the ‘boundary’ (Walsh, 2006, p.110) for a successful management of the classroom discourse. The findings also suggest that the teacher is not generally concerned with the turn-taking practices of the students, which can result in a chaotic context to deal with, for the sake of supporting and promoting student participation, hence, learning. The discussion of various findings from particular extracts will shed light on whether/to what extent the shape of the interaction in teaching Turkish as a Second Language (TSL) context is different when compared to teaching Turkish as a Foreign Language (TFL) by taking the distinction between EFL and ESL into account.Key words: Conversation analysis, interaction analysis, chaotic classroom management, teacher competencyReferencesAydiner,E. (2018). Chaotic universe model. Scientific Reports 8, 721. Doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-18681-4 Walsh, S. (2006). Investigating Classroom Discourse. Routledge: London</p

HIDDEN DANGER OF SARS-COV-2; MULTISYSTEM INFLAMMATORY SYNDROME IN ADULTS (MIS-A): FIRST CASE SERIES IN A SINGLE CENTER FROM TURKIYE

Objective: Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome (MIS) is a con-dition seen in the early post-COVID-19 period and thought to develop with an impaired immune response. It has been usually reported in children but rarely in adults. Here we report the first MIS-A case series from Turkiye.Material and Methods: Six patients who met the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions MIS-A diagnostic criteria were included in the study. The demographic, clinical, laboratory, ra-diological characteristics and therapy regimes and outcomes of the patients were recorded.Results: All of our cases had a history of mild COVID-19. They presented with fever, severe fatigue and hypotension. Abnormal echocardiography findings were detected in five patients. Only one patient had multiple mucocutaneous findings. Common lab-oratory features were lymphopenia, markedly increased C-Reak-tive Protein, procalcitonin, pro-brain natriuretic peptide (pro-BNP), D-dimer, and ferritin. All patients had positive SARS-CoV-2 antibody result. Corticosteroids and/or anakinra were used in five, Intravenous immunoglobulin was used in two patients. Low-mo-lecular-weight heparin (LMWH) was used for all cases. Empirically initiated antibiotic treatments were discontinued after cultures were negative. After anti-inflammatory treatment, the hypoten-sion of the patients resolved, they did not need intensive care follow-up and no mortality was seen in our cases.Conclusions: MIS-A is a severe and mortal condition that causes various clinical pictures and can be confused with sepsis. Anakin-ra, a recombinant IL-1 receptor antagonist, is a significant agent that can be used in the treatment of MIS-A since it blocks the cytokine cascade at an early stage. The satisfactory respons-es will be obtained with early diagnosis and anti-inflammatory treatment. In this period when the pandemic is not over yet, it is necessary to increase the awareness of clinicians about MIS-A, which can be fatal