Lichens Mentioned by Pedanios Dioscorides

Lichens are included in the classification system of fungi and have been used in medicine, pharmacy and industry from antiquity to present day in the treatment of various diseases. In this study, Peri Hyles Iatrikes of Dioscorides has been investigated and evaluated from lichenological point of view. It is found that, Dioscorides mentions about medical properties and uses of probable Parmelia species such as P. saxatilis (L.) Ach or P. sulcata Taylor

By Magri's Theorem, Self-Dual Gravity is Completely Integrable

By Magri's theorem the bi-Hamiltonian structure of Plebanski's second heavenly equation proves that (anti)-self-dual gravity is a completely integrable system in four dimensions.Comment: This is a contribution to the Proc. of workshop on Geometric Aspects of Integrable Systems (July 17-19, 2006; Coimbra, Portugal), published in SIGMA (Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications) at http://www.emis.de/journals/SIGMA

Comparison theorems for summability methods of sequences of fuzzy numbers

In this study we compare Ces\`{a}ro and Euler weighted mean methods of summability of sequences of fuzzy numbers with Abel and Borel power series methods of summability of sequences of fuzzy numbers. Also some results dealing with series of fuzzy numbers are obtained.Comment: publication information is added, typos correcte

The rise of independent administrative authorities in Turkey: A close look on sources, successes and challenges of this new institutional transformation

Turkey has experienced important institutional transformation during the last decades. In particular, it has started with liberal policies of early 1980s. Turkey has abandoned the import substitution policies after a serious balance of payment crisis. Foreign trade regime has been liberalized and export oriented development strategy has been adopted. The main goal has been to create a market based economy integrated with world markets. However, this first wave of institutional change is far from adequate. On the contrary, inadequate regulatory framework at financial sector and widespread corruption as well as bad macroeconomic management has led to crises between 1990 and 2001. Thus, the institutional change towards regulatory state is triggered with those economic crises. In response to these economic crises and the external pressure of global institutions like the IMF, significant legal changes such as liberalization in utilities sectors and restructuring of banking sector have been realized and some independent regulatory authorities have been set up. The Competition Authority was established in 1994 as part of the Custom Union agreement with the European Union (EU). The Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency was established in 1999 to improve the effectiveness of regulation and supervision and to establish an independent decision-making mechanism for the banking sector. The legal infrastructure for the Central Bank's independence was established by amending some articles of the Banking Law in 2001. Telecommunications Authority and Energy Market Regulatory Authority were set up in 2001 prior to liberalization of communications and electricity generation and distribution markets. The implicit logic of all this so-called structural reforms is to create and enhance the market based economy and the associated rationalization of public management in line with it. The Central Bank's independence from the political authorities that is perceived as a vital guarantee for prevention of irresponsible monetary policies, liberalization of electricity, gas, telecommunications and aviation sectors, privatization of large state monopolies at those utilities sector including Turk Telekom, building independent regulatory authorities, …etc are among some of the important changes of this new institutional era. In this paper, I try to discuss the questions why these significant institutional changes have occurred and what the promises realized and shortfalls of these authorities during the last decade in Turkey by conducting a literature survey. I think that after the introduction of second wave of institutional change, macroeconomic stability has substantially improved by creating a new institutional environment based on market mechanism and state as a regulator. Institutional change has been seemed to be successful for avoiding crisis in spite of the global financial crisis. The robustness of banking sector due to the restructuring is crucial for avoiding crises. On the other hand, new institutional environment is far from perfect. There are some serious risks and deficits. First, legal ambiguities between regulatory agencies may create power struggles and inefficiency. Secondly, having independent regularity authorities and new laws alone does not mean a guarantee for expected effective results. Finally, political class in Turkey is a myopic behaviour and their understanding has very serious short comings. Especially, I argue that the political commitment to support those independent administrative authorities by political elites is limited. I believe that the role of independent administrative authorities and the reorganization of Turkish traditional state structure towards regulatory state will continue to be debated in near future. --

Fertility transition and the progression to third birth in Turkey

During the last two decades, Turkey entered into the last phase of its demographic transition. The latest nationwide Turkey Demographic and Health Survey (TDHS) reveals that the current TFR is close to reproduction level, with a wide range of west-east regional disparity. The purpose of this study is to examine important determinants of third-birth intensities of two-child mothers by applying event-history analysis to retrospective survey data. Some of the basic socioeconomic characteristics of women and their first marriages – related to the cultural context of fertility behavior – are investigated with hazard regression models. We demonstrate that the third-birth intensities differ considerably by mother tongue of the woman. Turkish-speaking women who read easily and who were employed and covered by social security before their first marriage had the lowest transition rate from second to third child. In contrast, Kurdish women who could not read and who did not work had the highest third-birth risk. While the fertility decline among Turkish women has been constant for two decades, the fertility remains high among illiterate Kurdish women, who can be classified as laggards in the Turkey’s fertility transition.Turkey, family dynamics, fertility

SCREENING FOR CANCER AND MARKET STRUCTURE:A MULTILEVEL ANALYSIS FOR MAMMOGRAM AND PAP-SMEAR UTILIZATION IN THE U.S.

This paper investigates the relationship between health care market structure and utilization of preventive care services, namely mammogram and Papanicolaou (Pap-smear) screening. In addition to their life saving aspects, it is always believed that preventive health care services are important due to their cost-effectiveness which would prevail under managed competition. Yet, the nature of managed competition has been changing as a result of the backlash against it since the mid-1990s. We have yet to provide a clear answer to the question of how market structure affects the utilization of preventive care in general, and how the latest changes in health care market have been affecting it. These are the primary research questions of the paper. These research questions are answered by employing a new methodology that has not been used before. A multilevel modeling technique is employed to study the impact of changes in the structure of health care market on the utilization of mammogram and Pap-smear tests. In addition, an unusual data source, insurance claims data, rather than surveys or discharge data, is used in this study.Mammogram, Pap-Smear, Utilization, Health Care Market, Multilevel Analysis.