Investigation of middle school parents’ attitude towards extracurricular sports activities according to some demographic characteristics

The purpose of this study is to investigate middle school parents’ attitude towards extracurricular sports activities according to some demographic characteristics. The data for the study was obtained from parents of a public school in Aydın Province, in Turkey. To measure parents’ attitude, “The Parents’ Attitude Scales Towards Extracurricular Sports Activities” was used. This scale includes three sub-dimensions: personality development, academic perception, and social support. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and non-parametric tests were used to analyze the data. The findings indicated that parents’ attitude towards extracurricular sports activities were seen to be at a very good level in all dimensions. In demographic variables, only income groups and educational degree groups had significant differences at the p<0.01 level for all of the sub-dimensions. Results indicated that parents’ approach to extracurricular sports activities plays an important role on students’ participation in these activities

Roles of senescence escape and epigenetic modifications in liver cancer

Ankara : The Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics and the Graduate School of Engineering and Science of Bilkent Univ., 2013.Thesis (Ph. D.) -- Bilkent University, 2013.Includes bibliographical references leaves 109-130.Development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a multi-step progressive process in which a healthy liver transforms into cancerous tissue. Senescence is a permanent proliferation arrest in response to cell stress such as DNA damage, serving as a major barrier against tumor development. Most tumor cells are believed to bypass the senescence barrier (become “immortal”) by inactivating growth control genes and reactivating telomerase reverse transcriptase gene. Senescence-to-immortality transition is accompanied by major phenotypic and biochemical changes mediated by genome-wide transcriptional modifications. This appears to happen during HCC development in patients with liver cirrhosis; however, the accompanying transcriptional changes are virtually unknown. This study describes genome-wide transcriptional changes related to the senescence-to-immortality switch during hepatocellular carcinogenesis. Starting with a strong support of the hypothesis that in vitro senescent HCC clones are alike in vivo cirrhosis cells, and in vitro immortal HCC cells are alike in vivo HCC hepatocytes using microarray data analysis methods; we determined differentially expressed genes and deregulated biological mechanisms during senescence escape and immortalization. Gene set enrichment analysis revealed that cirrhosis/senescence-associated genes were preferentially expressed in non-tumor tissues, less malignant tumors, and differentiated or senescent cells. In contrast, HCC/immortality genes were up-regulated in tumor tissues, or more malignant tumors and progenitor cells. In HCC tumors and immortal cells genes involved in DNA repair, cell cycle, telomere extension and branched chain amino acid metabolism were up-regulated, whereas genes involved in cell signaling, as well as in drug, lipid, retinoid and glycolytic metabolism were down-regulated. Through the analysis of senescence-related gene expression in different liver tissues we showed that cirrhosis and HCC display expression patterns compatible with senescent and immortal phenotypes, respectively; dysplasia being a transitional state. Based on these distinctive gene expression features we developed a 15-gene hepatocellular immortality signature test that discriminated HCC from cirrhosis with high accuracy. Since an epigenetic player gene, ATAD2, came forward as one of the hepatocellular immortality signature test genes in senescence escape processes, we also investigated roles of epigenetic regulatory genes in hepatocellular carcinogenesis. Bioinformatics analyzes on cirrhosis and HCC as well as dysplasia and normal liver samples using a comprehensive list of epigenetic regulatory genes revealed several transcriptionally deregulated epigenetic regulatory mechanisms during liver carcinogenesis. However, we could not detect any mutational differences in N-terminal tail encoding DNA sequences of histone variants. Our findings demonstrate that senescence bypass plays a central role in hepatocellular carcinogenesis engendering systematic changes in the transcription of genes regulating DNA repair, proliferation, differentiation and metabolism.Yıldız, GökhanPh.D

Comparison of metal uptake capacities of the brown algae Cystoseira barbata and Cystoseira crinita (Phaeophyceae) collected in Sinop, Turkey

Cystoseira barbata (Stackhouse) C. Agardh, 1820 and Cystoseira crinita Duby, 1830 widely distributed and dominant in the Black Sea collected from Sinop coastal zone to monitor the current situation of regional metal pollution during the 2015-2016. Macro-algae, sediments and seawater samples were analyzed for metal contents (Al, As, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Hg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The methodology was provided by using standard reference material BCR 279 – Ulva lactuca. The general metal uptake of Cystoseira spp. displayed a tendency in the order of Hg2 and BCF>5000) that was a good indicator for Cystoseira species. As a result of measured values, it is seen that Sinop region is below the pollution level. The observed results of the elemental accumulation noticed that Cystoseira spp. could be used regularly as a bio-monitor of coastal pollution in the study area

An ab initio Study of Cr and Mn Doped MAX Phase TiMSiB

MAX phases, which are widely studied experimentally and theoretically, have general formula of M(n1)AXn, where M is transition metals, A is A group element and X is C and N. In this study, the structural, mechanical and electronic properties have been researched for hypothetical MAX phase TiMSiB, where M is Cr and Mn by applying ab initio calculations. Initially, structural optimizations have been completed and the outcomes crosschecked with the studies of Ti2SiB in literatures [1]. After optimization process have been achieved, the mechanical stability has been proved. Moreover, Young, Bulk, Shear modules and Poisson ratio for the compounds have been estimated by using elastic constants. Also, to understand the anisotropic behavior of the materials, directional dependent two and three-dimensional mechanical properties have been plotted. Finally, electronic band structures and corresponding density of state (DOS) have been plotted. © 2019 IEEE

Performance, exergy, and environmental analysis of blast furnace top pressure turbine in an iron-steel factory

The iron-steel industry, which has a large part of its energy consumption, strives to stay at the targeted level in the competition race and to hold on in the field in which it operates. For this purpose, production capacity turned to different energy saving methods due to the effort to reach the relevant standards and high quality low cost strategies, as well as energy prices are constantly variable and energy costs are high. In this study, the Blast Furnace Top Pressure Turbine system (TRT), which is one of the important energy saving methods of the iron and steel industry, was examined. Considering the importance of the TRT system, operating conditions, operating parameters, and factors affecting energy recovery, the effect of various operating parameters on the operation of the TRT system was evaluated. Considering the annual operating time of 8000 hours, the annual production amount is 42400000 kWh, the value in terms of tons of oil equivalent is 3640 toe, the investment cost of the plant in 2018 is $400000 and the annual savings amount is$2755900. The amount of carbon emission reduction due to this production amount was calculated as 10888 kgCO2/h on average, and this amount of carbon emission was prevented every year with the commissioning of the facility. When the cost and energy calculations related to the system are examined, the payback period of the project is calculated as approximately 0.15 years

An open, extendible, and fast Turkish morphological analyzer

In this paper, we present a two-level morphological analyzer for Turkish which consists of five main components: finite state transducer, rule engine for suffixation, lexicon, trie data structure, and LRU cache. We use Java language to implement finite state machine logic and rule engine, Xml language to describe the finite state transducer rules of the Turkish language, which makes the morphological analyzer both easily extendible and easily applicable to other languages. Empowered with a comprehensive lexicon of 54,000 bare-forms including 19,000 proper nouns, our morphological analyzer is amongst the most reliable analyzers produced so far. The analyzer is compared with Turkish morphological analyzers in the literature. By using LRU cache and a trie data structure, the system can analyze 100,000 words per second, which enables users to analyze huge corpora in a few hours.Publisher's Versio

The investigation of electronic, anisotropic elastic and lattice dynamical properties of MAB phase nanolaminated ternary borides: M2AlB2 (M ¼ Mn, Fe and Co) under spin effects

In the present study, the structural, electronic, magnetic, anisotropic elastic and lattice dynamic properties of the ternary metal borides M2AlB2 (M=Mn, Fe and Co) known as MAB phases have been investigated by density functional theory. The obtained results from the structural optimizations show that all these compounds have negative formation enthalpy implying the thermodynamic stability and synthesizability. The spin effects on the M2AlB2 phases have been studied with the plotted energy-volume curves for different magnetic phases (antiferromagnetic (AFM), ferromagnetic (FM), and paramagnetic (PM)) of these compounds. The stable magnetic phase for the Mn2AlB2 compound is found to be AFM while the magnetic nature of Fe2AlB2 and Co2AlB2 compounds are FM. The calculated electronic band structures with the total and orbital projected partial density of electronic states imply that these ternary metal borides have metallic behavior. Also, the mentioned compounds have mechanical and dynamic stability due to the calculated elastic constants and the observed phonon dispersion curves. Some thermodynamic properties have been investigated by means of phonon dispersion curves. Furthermore, the anisotropic elastic properties have been visualized in three dimensions (3D) for Young's modulus, linear compressibility, shear modulus, Poisson's ratio, and sound wave velocities. © 2020 Elsevier B.V

Effects of cooling rate on strength and microstructure of powder metallurgy superalloys

The excellent mechanical properties of powder metallurgy superalloys strongly depend on the microstructure, grain size, morphology, and size distribution of the γ' precipitates. In this study, the effects of cooling rate on strength and microstructure of powder metallurgy superalloys were investigated. Articles were reviewed about this topic and they all were evaluated. Different types of powder metallurgy superalloys such as FGH4096, U720LI, UDIMET 500, MAR-M247, K465, IN738LC, Rene88DT, CM247LC and K5 were selected for this study. These materials were tested in different parameters (temperature and time) and different cooling rates were applied. Test results showed that cooling rate has considerable effects on strength and microstructure of powder metallurgy superalloys. It was observed that the strength increased by the increment of cooling rate. Also, almost homogeneous microstructure was obtained at high cooling rate

Basic School Skills Inventory-3: Validity and Reliability Study

The purpose of this study is to perform the validity-reliability analysis of the three subtests of Basic School Skills Inventory 3 – Mathematics, Classroom Behavior and Daily Life skills – and do its adaptation for four to six year-old Turkish children. The sample of the study included 595 four to six year-old Turkish children attending public and private schools. The schools were selected from among the central towns of the province Konya based on random sampling method considering the social-economic conditions. For the reliability of the subtests of the Basic School Skills Inventory - that’s Mathematics, Classroom Behavior and Daily Life and Skills – analyses were made to determine the internal consistency (Cronbach’s Alpha), split-test reliability and test-retest reliability coefficient. The validity of the inventory was measured using construct, content and concurrent validity. The results showed that the Basic School Skills Inventory - Mathematics, Daily Life and Classroom Behavior Skills – was a reliable and valid instrument for Turkish children aged four to six years

Healing effects of single-dose triptolide in rats with severe acute pancreatitis

Aim: Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) carries high morbidity and mortality risk. If theproinflammatory response phase of SAP cannot be controlled, it may result in multiorganfailure (MOF). Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-?B) activation plays an important role in thedevelopment of MOF. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the healing effects of triptolide,an anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive agent in rats with SAP.Material and Methods: A total of 20 Wistar-Albino rats were divided into two groups as theSAP and triptolide treatment (TT) groups. SAP was induced by intraperitoneal injection ofcerulean (50 mg/kg) in both groups. TT group was administered a single dose (0.2 mg/kg)triptolide 24 hour after the induction of SAP. Serum ALT, AST, GGT, Lipase, Glucose, ALPand amylase levels and pancreatic tissue samples were examined.Results: Serum glucose and amylase levels were found to be significantly lower in the TTgroup (p=0.011 and p=0.035, respectively). There was no significant difference between thegroups in terms of other biochemical parameters. Pancreatic edema, acinar cell degeneration,fat necrosis, intrapancreatic&perivascular inflammation, inflammation in the peripancreatic fattissue were common histopathological findings in both groups. There was no significantdifference between the groups in terms of histopathologic changes.Conclusion: Cerulein-induced pancreatitis is a successful method for experimental SAP. Thehealing effects of single-dose triptolide treatment are not evident in the early phase of SAP.The therapeutic effects of triptolide on inflammatory and oxidative stress were not significantlyapproved by histopathological and biochemical parameters by the pancreatic tissue