Integration of Project Management in Project based Learning

In the learning environment including schools and university training centers,the most important thing is that learners must accomplish the learning outcomes. In order to do that teachers or mentors design many activities. These activities should engage learners and increase learner motivations. Learners should be challenged with real-life problems to gain real experience. Experts of education suggest that teachers as facilitators should carry out project based learning (PBL) to provide such an active and engaging learning environment. Especially, developed countries apply project-based learning because of the importance and effectiveness of the method. In the literature, notably many researches have proved effectiveness and utility of the PBL. Students enjoy working ona project because they may select the kind of project that they would like to do. While they are working on a project they must collaborate, communicate and solve problems. They also need to be creative and critical thinkers. All such characters belong to the 21st century skillset. That means students can achieve 21st century skills when they engage in a project. PBL is in accordance with constructivist and connectivist approaches to encouragestudents to be more engaged and organize cognitive structures individually with the help of society and learning environment. In the learning environment many teachers use project-based learning without explaining how to manage project professionally. Some of the projects don’t get completed on time, on budget and within the scope because of the lack of project management skills. So, experts must integrate project management in project-based learning. As a result of the integration of PM in PBL, the learners will be able to complete their projects on time, on budget and within scope. Also students will be able to acquire 21st century skills and achieve learning outcome of a course. In this paper the aim is to explain how to integrate project management in project-based learning and to introduce a sample curriculum that was developed for such integration. In this paper, a real time implementation process illustrates the integration process. At the end of the integration of the integration of the curriculum of PM in PBL all learners were able to complete their projects on time and within scope while working in a group. One of the teams got first place in the National Challenge in all Texas Region in the U.S.A. after implementing project management skills in project based learning. This proves that the method works

Cross - cultural adaptation and preliminary validation of the Turkish version of the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale among 5-6-year-old children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In Turkey, formal pre-primary education for children 5- 6 years old provides the ideal setting for school-based oral health promotion programs and oral health care services. To develop effective oral health promotion programs, there is a need to assess this target group's subjective oral health needs as well as clinical needs. The Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) is a well-known instrument for assessing oral health quality of life in children aged 0-5 years old and their families. This study aimed to adapt the ECOHIS for children 5-6 years old in a Turkish-speaking community and to undertake a preliminary investigation of its psychometric properties.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The Turkish version of the ECOHIS was obtained with forward/backward translations, expert panels and pre-testing and it was tested in a convenience sample of 121 parents of 5- 6 year-old children attending nursery classes of three public schools. Data were collected through clinical examinations and self-completed questionnaires. The main analyses were carried out on the imputed data set. The validity of content, face, construct, discriminant and convergent and as well as the reliability of internal and test-retest of the ECOHIS were evaluated. Sensitivity analysis was performed to examine the effect of the complete case analysis for managing "Don't know" responses on the validity and reliability of the ECOHIS.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The analysis of the imputed data set showed that Cronbach's alphas for the child and family sections were 0.92 and 0.84 respectively, and for the whole scale was 0.93. The intraclass correlation coefficient for test-retest was 0.86. The scale scores on the child and parent sections indicating worse quality of life were significantly associated with poor parental ratings of their child's oral health, high caries experience, higher gingival index scores and problem-orientated dental attendance, supporting its construct, convergent and discriminant validity. Sensitivity analysis showed that the mean imputation method and the complete case analysis did not have differing effects on the validity and reliability of the ECOHIS.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study provided preliminary evidence concerning validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the scale among 5-6-year-old children. Future studies should be conducted on the ECOHIS to evaluate fully its psychometric properties in both community- based and clinically-based studies among parents of children younger than five. This study provides initial evidence that the ECOHIS aimed at children aged 0-5 years may be a useful tool for assessing the oral health quality of life in 6 year - old preschool children.</p

Investigating dental care status with multilevel modelling

The aim of this study is to explore the status of dental care. For this purpose, the data set is taken from a real data set which the survey was carried out in 2003 at Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa School of Medicine, Turkey. The population is defined to be people who are over the age of 18, living in Istanbul. According to the Turkish Statistical Institute indicators, Istanbul is divided into three regions. In these regions, there are 25 towns in total and all of them are included. From these 25 towns, 285 districts are selected randomly. In total, the analyses are performed with the participation of 931 individuals. Taking into account the nested structure of the data set (individuals are nested within districts, districts within towns and towns within regions), multilevel modelling approaches are investigated

Evaluation of Reliability and Validity of the Çapa Anxiety Scale

Aim:The aim of this study is to assess the reliability and validity of Çapa Anxiety Scale that is developed at Istanbul University Faculty of Dentistry Department of Orthodontics.Subjects and Methods:The study is carried out on two groups, aged between 8-15 years. The first group consists of 46 children that come for the first time to the clinic to be treated. The second group consists of 46 children who have been under treatment for at least 1 year. To measure anxiety in children, Çapa Anxiety Scale that is developed in the department is applied. To test the reliability and validity of Çapa Anxiety Scale, our results are compared with routinely used Frankl Scale, whose validity and reliability is already proven, by applying Spearman correlation analysis. Cronbach Alpha (internal consistency) is used to determine the reliability of the scale; Wilcoxon test were applied to evaluate the test-retest consistency and reproducibility.Results:Results from Cronbach Alfa analysis show that the the scale has high level of internal consistency. Wilcoxon test results for 2 separate groups show that the scale is reproducible.Conclusion:The evaluation with Frankl scale shows that the scale is valid

Link adaptation for MIMO OFDM visible light communication systems

In this paper, we investigate link adaptation for an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM)-based multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) visible light communication (VLC) system. The proposed adaptive OFDM VLC system supports both repetition coding (RC) and spatial multiplexing (SM) as MIMO modes and allows spatial mode switching based on channel conditions. Regarding to the instantaneous signal-to-noise ratio for both RC and SM modes, the maximum constellation size that can be supported for each MIMO mode on each subcarrier is determined. The MIMO mode that gives the highest spectral efficiency (SE) is then selected. The proposed joint MIMO mode selection and bit loading scheme maximizes the SE while satisfying a target bit error rate. Our numerical results reveal that a peak data rate up to 18.3 Gb/sec can be achieved in a 16 × 16 MIMO setting using light emitting diodes with cut-off frequency of 10 MHz in typical indoor environments.Nazarbayev University ; TÜBİTAKPublisher versio

Visible light channel modeling for gas pipelines

In this paper, we explore the use of visible light communication as a means of wireless monitoring in gas pipelines. In an effort to shed light on the communication limits in the presence of gas, we create a three-dimensional simulation platform where the pipeline size/shape, the reflection characteristics of the interior coating, gas specifications (i.e., temperature, density, refractive index, transmittance, etc.) and the specifications of the light sources and detectors (i.e., field of view, lighting pattern, etc.) are precisely defined. Based on ray tracing, we obtain channel impulse responses within the gas pipeline considering the deployment of different colored LEDs with various viewing angles. We further investigate the maximum achievable link range to ensure a given bit error rate.NPRP award under the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of the Qatar Foundation)Publisher versio

Illite occurrences related to volcanic-hosted hydrothermal mineralization in the biga peninsula, NW Turkey: Implications for the age and origin of fluids

A different approach to investigate the origin of fluids, temperature conditions, age of hydrothermal activity of mineralization in the Biga Peninsula, (Koru, Tesbihdere and Kumarlar) employed mineralogical (illite Kübler index, b cell dimension, polytype) and geochemical (major, trace/REE, O-H stable isotope and Rb/Sr dating) methods. The Kübler Index (KI) values of illites indicate different temperature conditions, such as low temperature (high-grade diagenesis) for Koru deposit, and high temperature (anchizone) for the Tesbihdere and Kumarlar deposits. The textural, mineralogical and geochemical data from illites show that these have potential for estimating the age of hydrothermal activity and fluid characteristics. Both mineralogical (high grade diagenetic to anchizonal KI, 1 M polytype, low d060 values) and geochemical (similar major and trace element composition to host-rocks, low octahedral Mg + Fe contents, oxygen and hydrogen isotope composition) data are compatible with commonly known hydrothermal illites. Stable isotope data of illites are well matched to similar data from fluid inclusions, which indicate mainly magmatic fluids. The Rb/Sr age (22.4 ± 2.3 Ma: latest Oligocene and lowest Miocene) of the illites coincides with plutonic intrusions that are the main instigators of hydrothermal activities related to the extensional tectonic regime in the Biga Peninsula. The mineralogical and geochemical data of illites have some important advantages with respect to the use of fluid inclusions in determining δD of hydrothermal fluids thereby leading to better understanding ore-forming hydrothermal condition