Food fit for a Khan: Stable isotope analysis of the elite Mongol Empire cemetery at Tavan Tolgoi, Mongolia

The creation and expansion of the Mongol Empire during the thirteenth century A.D. brought with it many changes, both for the conquered peoples and for the conquerors themselves. Ruling elite Mongols in foreign lands imposed new customs onto their new subjects, but also adopted some of the characteristics of the cultures they ruled; these are topics of sustained and continuing research interest. Equally interesting but less well researched is what impact the Empire had on Mongols remaining in the Mongolian homeland. Historical sources suggest that the fruits of Empire would have flowed not only to remote Mongol capitals of the Empire but also back to Mongolia proper. Here we use dietary stable isotope analysis to assess whether the Empire brought large changes to the diet of either ruling elites or more common people in the Mongolian homeland. Carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios are measured in bone collagen from human and faunal remains from Tavan Tolgoi, a ruling elite cemetery in eastern Mongolia, and compared with ratios from lesser ranked people at the cemetery of Tsagaan chuluut. These are also compared with ratios from the Bronze Age cemetery of Ulaanzuukh, a post-Empire set of human remains, and modern and archaeological human and faunal remains from the wider region. The Tavan Tolgoi isotope ratios do differ from those of Tsagaan chuluut and Ulannzuukh. Comparison with isotope data from the wider region, however, suggests that the differences may be due to differing environmental conditions rather than dietary differences

若年期の教育訓練が賃金に与える効果

一般論

Investigation of the clinical behaviors of pediatric dentists working in Turkey during the normalization period of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Objective: Our aim is to investigate the clinical attitudes and behaviors of pediatric dentists during the new normalization period of the COVID-19 pandemic.Materials and methods: Our study was conducted online among pediatric dentistry specialists working in Turkey and a total of 256 people participated. According to personal information, the six questions asked in the second part were analyzed in terms of physicians' adaptation to the new normal order, clinical arrangements, measures to be taken, and their approaches to treatment procedures.Results: The responses to the option "my anxiety has decreased and I have learned to live with this situation" were mostly found in women (42.86%), those with a working period of 1-5 years (42.11%) and pediatric dentists aged 20-25 years (42.86%). In our study, it was observed that ART was practiced more in public hospitals (100%) compared to university and private hospitals. It was observed that 73.91% of pediatric dentists working in university hospitals preferred panoramic films. This rate was significantly higher than those working in state and private hospitals.Conclusions: It was observed that the pediatric dentists participating in our study acted in accordance with the precautions and measures during the new normalization period. In this process, procedures that produce less aerosol were preferred more frequently

Informal versus Formal Search: Which Yields a Better Pay?

Estimates on the effect of job contact method -- i.e., informal versus formal search -- on wage offers vary considerably across studies, with some of them finding a positive correlation between getting help from informal connections and obtaining high-paying jobs, while others finding a negative one. In this paper, I investigate the sources of discrepancies in these empirical results. Using a formal job search framework, I derive an equilibrium wage distribution which reveals that the informal search yields for some groups higher and for some others lower wages than formal search. The key result is the existence of nonmonotonicities in wage offers. Two potential sources of these nonmonotonicities exist: (i) peer effects and (ii) unobserved worker heterogeneity in terms of the inherent cost of maintaining connections within a productive informal network. The model predicts that a greater degree of unobserved heterogeneity tilts the estimates toward producing a positive correlation between informal search and higher wages, whereas stronger peer influences tend to yield a negative correlation. This conclusion informs the empirical research in the sense that identification of the true correlation between job contact methods and wage offers requires a careful assessment of the unobserved heterogeneity and peer influences in the relevant sample

The impact of the 2008 crisis on top labor incomes in Turkey: A nonparametric analysis

This paper presents a nonparametric analysis of the impact of the 2008 crisis on earnings distribution in Turkey. Using micro-level data from the Household Labor Force Survey (2004-2011), I show that the crisis has operated most visibly above the upper quartile of the earnings distribution. I present three main findings: (1) the share of the top decile -- especially the top percentile -- has increased significantly right after the crisis, (2) the top quartile (i.e., the right tail) of labor incomes in Turkey resembles, on average, a Pareto distribution with a corresponding Gini coefficient of around 0.23, and (3) following the crisis, the earnings differentials have widened above the top quartile and wildly deviated from the Pareto form. I document that the changes observed right after the crisis have mostly been temporary; that is, a normalization process has operated in the aftermath of the crisis. I argue that the health of the domestic banking system might be an important determinant of the effect of large scale financial crises on top labor incomes. A sound banking system can generate income polarization in a country, when global crises lead to asymmetric income reallocations across sectors

The impact of the 2008 crisis on top labor incomes in Turkey: A nonparametric analysis

This paper presents a nonparametric analysis of the impact of the 2008 crisis on earnings distribution in Turkey. Using micro-level data from the Household Labor Force Survey (2004-2011), I show that the crisis has operated most visibly above the upper quartile of the earnings distribution. I present three main findings: (1) the share of the top decile -- especially the top percentile -- has increased significantly right after the crisis, (2) the top quartile (i.e., the right tail) of labor incomes in Turkey resembles, on average, a Pareto distribution with a corresponding Gini coefficient of around 0.23, and (3) following the crisis, the earnings differentials have widened above the top quartile and wildly deviated from the Pareto form. I document that the changes observed right after the crisis have mostly been temporary; that is, a normalization process has operated in the aftermath of the crisis. I argue that the health of the domestic banking system might be an important determinant of the effect of large scale financial crises on top labor incomes. A sound banking system can generate income polarization in a country, when global crises lead to asymmetric income reallocations across sectors

A Therapeutic Approach for Wound Healing by Using Essential Oils of Cupressus and Juniperus Species Growing in Turkey

Juniperus and Cupressus genera are mainly used as diuretic, stimulant, and antiseptic, for common cold and wound healing in Turkish folk medicine. In the present study, essential oils obtained from cones of Cupressus and berries of Juniperus were evaluated for their wound healing and anti-inflammatory effects. In vivo wound healing activity was evaluated by linear incision and circular excision experimental wound models, assessment of hydroxyproline content, and subsequently histopathological analysis. The healing potential was comparatively assessed with a reference ointment Madecassol. Additionally acetic-acid-induced capillary permeability test was used for the oils' anti-inflammatory activity. The essential oils of J. oxycedrus subsp. oxycedrus and J. phoenicea demonstrated the highest activities, while the rest of the species did not show any significant wound healing effect. The experimental study revealed that J. oxycedrus subsp. oxycedrus and J. phoenicea display remarkable wound healing and anti-inflammatory activities, which support the folkloric use of the plants

CHANGES IN THE CHEMICAL STRUCTURE OF THERMALLY TREATED WOOD

Changes in the chemical structure of hornbeam and uludag fir woods during thermal treatment were investigated at three temperatures (170, 190, and 210 oC) and three durations (4, 8, and 12 hours). After thermal treatment, the extents of degradation in the chemical structure of the samples were determined, and the effects on the chemical composition of hornbeam wood and uludag fir wood were investigated. The data obtained were analyzed using variance analysis, and Tukey’s test was used to determine the changes in the chemical structure of uludag fir and hornbeam woods. The results showed that heating wood permanently changes several of its chemical structures and that the changes are mainly caused by thermal degradation of wood polymers. It was found that decreasing of the cellulose and holocelluloses ratio had a favorable effect on the interaction of the wood with moisture. According to the obtained results, hornbeam wood is affected more than uludag fir wood. For each wood, the maximum decreases of holocellulose and α-cellulose were found at 210oC for 12 hours, and the maximum increase of lignin occurred at the same treatment combination