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Background: Local humanitarian workers in low and middle-income countries must often contend with potentially morally injurious situations, often with limited resources. This creates barriers to providing sustainable mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) to displaced individuals. Clinical supervision is an often neglected part of ensuring high-quality, sustainable care. The Caring for Carers (C4C) project aims to test the effectiveness and acceptability of online group-based supportive supervision on the well-being of MHPSS practitioners, as well as service-user-reported service satisfaction and quality when working with displaced communities in Türkiye, Syria, and Bangladesh. This protocol paper describes the aim, design, and methodology of the C4C project. Method: A quasi-experimental, mixed-method, community-based participatory research study will be conducted to test the effectiveness of online group-based supportive clinical supervision provided to 50 Syrian and 50 Bangladeshi MHPSS practitioners working with Syrian and Rohingya displaced communities. Monthly data will be collected from the practitioners and their beneficiaries during the active control (six months) and supervision period (16 months over two terms). Outcomes are psychological distress (Kessler-6), burnout (the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory), compassion fatigue, compassion satisfaction, and secondary traumatic stress (Professional Quality of Life Scale), perceived injustice, clinical self-efficacy (Counseling Activity Self-Efficacy Scale), service satisfaction, and quality (Client Satisfaction Questionnaire and an 18-item measure developed in this project). A realist evaluation framework will be used to elucidate the contextual factors, mechanisms, and outcomes of the supervision intervention. Discussion: There is a scarcity of evidence on the role of clinical supervision in improving the well-being of MHPSS practitioners and the quality of service they provide to displaced people. By combining qualitative and quantitative data collection, the C4C project will address the long-standing question of the effectiveness and acceptability of clinical supervision in humanitarian settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we provide an update on autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including epidemiology, etiopathogenesis, clinical presentation, instrumental investigations, early signs, onset patterns, neuropsychological hypotheses, treatments, and long-term outcome. The prevalence of this condition has increased enormously over the last few decades. This increase prompted a search for possible environmental factors whose effects would add up to a genetic predisposition leading to the development of autism. But the genetic and environmental variables involved are extremely numerous, and conclusive data regarding the etiopathogenesis are still far away. Assuming that a well-defined etiology is still found today only in a minority of cases, numerous pathogenetic mechanisms have been hypothesized. Among these, we mention oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, alteration of the intestinal microbiota, immune dysregulation, and neuroinflammation. These pathogenetic mechanisms could alter epigenetic status and gene expression, finally leading to ASD. Inherent in the term spectrum is the great clinical heterogeneity of this condition, mainly due to the frequent comorbidity that characterizes it. The earlier the diagnosis is made and the earlier psychoeducational treatment begins, the better the prognosis. In this sense, the role of pediatricians can be decisive in making children with signs suggestive of autism undergo a specialist diagnostic course. The development of increasingly advanced cognitive-behavioral educational techniques has considerably improved the prognosis of affected individuals, even though only a small minority of them come off the autistic spectrum. Pharmacological therapies are used to treat comorbidities. During childhood, the most important prognostic factor for long-term outcome seems to be intellectual functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The proximal ulna has a complex and unique architectural anatomy, therefore, its fractures are difficult to manage. This paper aimed to evaluate proximal ulnar angulations that contribute to the fixation and restoration of proximal ulna fractures in the Turkish population. Materials and Methods: This study was performed on 107 Turkish adult ulnae (55 right, 52 left) whose age and sex were unknown. The ulnar length (UL), proximal distance of varus angulation (PDVA), and widths at the point of varus angulation were measured with a digital caliper. The proximal ulna torsion angle (PUTA), varus angulation (VA), proximal ulna dorsal angulation (PUDA), articular angle (AA), and olecranon-diaphysis angle (ODA) were measured with a goniometer. The statistical analysis was carried out at the SPSS 21.0 program (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY, USA). Results: The median UL was 251.97 mm (minimum: 196.84 - maximum: 497.76 mm), median PDVA was 82.7 mm (minimum: 16.21 - maximum: 108.62 mm), mean total width was 15.04±1.84 mm, mean posterior-interosseous width was 13.72±2.37 mm and mean posterior-anterior width was 15.15±1.93 mm. The mean PUTA was 27.10°±9.04°, the median VA was 14° (minimum: 5° - maximum: 23°), the median PUDA was 8° (minimum: -3° - maximum: 20°), the median AA was 25° (minimum: 19° - maximum: 39°), and the mean ODA was 17.39°±5.33°. A moderate negative correlation was detected between the PUDA and ODA (rs= -0.50, p<0.001). Conclusion: The mean proximal ulnar angulations in this study can be beneficial during surgery for the fixation of proximal ulna fractures. This study revealed the correlation between proximal ulnar angulations in the Turkish population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mining tremors may have an impact on the safety risk of steel pipelines through their effects. It is therefore important to quantify the impact of a high-energy mining tremor in terms of strength. In addition, a comparison of the results obtained with the effect of a seismic tremor can illustrate the scale of such a hazard. Recently, this has been a very frequently raised issue in the area of surface protection against negative mining impacts and the protection of post-mining areas. Ensuring safe use is particularly important for gas transmission elements. This paper presents the results of a comparative analysis of the impact of mining tremors and seismic impacts on a specimen steel pipeline segment. The analyzed pipeline is located in the eastern part of Poland in the area of paraseismic impacts of the LGCD (Legnica-Glogow Copper District) mine. For this purpose, an analytical approach was used to assess the impact of seismic wave propagation on underground linear infrastructure facilities. Accelerogram records for the 02-06-2023 seismic tremor from Turkey and the mining tremor for 11-25-2020 were used. In the case of the design of underground pipelines, the cross-section of the element for which measures describing wall stress and the ovalization of the cross-section are determined is usually considered. In the situation of the influence of seismic wave propagation or so-called permanent ground deformation, the response of the pipeline in the longitudinal direction is analyzed. As a final result, longitudinal strains transferred to the pipeline as a consequence of the propagating seismic wave and mining tremor were determined. The absolute difference between the deformations in the ground and along the length of the pipeline was determined. This type of analysis has not been carried out before and provides new insights into the topic of paraseismic impacts on the scale of their interaction with natural earthquakes. Mining tremor data was obtained from the mine's seismological department. The seismic tremor data, on the other hand, was downloaded via the publicly available ESM (Engineering Strong-Motion Database). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, it is aimed to determine the awareness level of the elements registered in the name of Turkey in the list created within the scope of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, in terms of "recognition" and "experience", and to present suggestions for the safeguarding, sustainability and transmission of cultural heritage to next generations based on the awareness level. In this respect, the online survey developed based on the literature was applied to the citizens of Republic of Turkey aged over 20 between January 24 - March 28, 2021. The survey questions only consist of the elements in the Representative List. A total of 1550 people from seven regions of Turkey responded to the survey. Descriptive statistics and Importance-Performance Analysis were used to analyze the data. As a priority, in the list created within the scope of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, the public awareness and experience levels of nineteen intangible cultural heritage elements registered in the name of Turkey have been determined and the awareness level of each intangible cultural heritage elements has been identified. As a result of the analysis of the data, the intangible cultural heritage elements are located in the Familiarity- Experience matrix. According to the findings obtained as a result of the positioning, 5 intangible cultural heritage elements with a high level of awareness were identified: "Turkish Coffee and Tradition", "Karagöz", "Nevruz", "Flatbread Making and Sharing Tradition: Lavash, Katırma, Jupka, Yufka" and "Spring Festival Hıdırellez". The "familiarity" and "experience" levels of these elements are high and it is important to carry out studies for their safeguarding and sustainability. It has been determined that five intangible cultural heritage elements with high "familiarity" levels and low "experience" levels have a partial awareness level. These elements are; "Kırkpınar Oil Wrestling Festival", "Marbling: Turkish Paper Decoration Art", "Dede Korkut-Korkut Ata Heritage: Culture, Legends and Music", "Mevlevi Sema Ceremonies" and "The Tradition of Minstrelsy". It is important to concentrate on these elements and make an effort to develop them. It has been determined that the remaining 9 intangible cultural heritage elements have very low levels of both "familiarity" and "experience". It is necessary to take serious measures to ensure that these elements are not forgotten and disappeared by the society. These elements with very low awareness in the society are as follows; "Mesir Macunu Festival", "Miniature Art", "Traditional Conversation Meetings (Yaren, Barana, Sira Nights etc.)", "Traditional Tile Art", "Traditional Turkish Archery", "Meddah Tradition", "Alevi-Bektashi Ritual Semah", "Traditional Ceremonial Keskek" and "Traditional Intelligence and Strategy Game: Togyzqumalaq, Toguz Korgool, Mangala/Göçürme". Based on these findings, in order to increase the awareness level of intangible cultural heritage elements and to keep them alive, it is thought that it is necessary to use the media effectively, to raise awareness of the society from childhood, and the state to encourage and support activities in this direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the study is to reorganize agricultural business management's owning small, fragmented, and dispersed lands according to modern agricultural business management thus ensures less usage of time, labour force and fund, take advantages of production factors and increase in productivity of agricultural business managements, increase agricultural production, and ameliorate life standards of inhabitants in the rural area. The paper is based on a large literature in the field and information from TVK about land consolidation. The results reflected that Turkey has implemented Land Consolidation activities for 1 million hectares per year to correct the unfavorable situation caused by inheritance traditions and other reasons. In the first years of the program, inheritance regulations were not perfectly organized, so applications encountered issues. In 2014, new regulations were implemented to prevent land division but did not have a beneficial effect on the development of enterprises. To ensure compensation for land value when they move away, Land Banking applications are needed. The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock developed a GIS based web portal named "TVK" to track and monitor all the activities performed during the management of Land Consolidation Projects. TVK ensures following content to be executed: Contract Management, Project Management and Monitoring, Schedule Planning and Monitoring, Operation Management and Monitoring, Data Management (Textual and Geographical), Estimated Cost Calculation for a LCP by using unit price pool, Progress Payment Management and Monitoring, Final Account Calculation, Interim and Final Acceptance Procedures, Official Letters, Official Reports, Project Statistics, Geographical Data Marking, Correction, Comparison, Redlining, Mobile applications and E-government integration. TVK has instant and online access to governments Land Registry and Cadastre Information System, Central Population Information System, Address Registration System, Agricultural Information System and Agricultural Parcel Information System. TVK is developed with open-source technologies and compatible with OGC (Open Geospatial Consortium) and ISO standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Turkish economy has undergone a structural transformation with impressive economic performance during 2002–2018 and then a slowdown. The implementation of policies on the financial markets results in a significant capital inflow, which leads to an increase in the volume of domestic credit. Despite improvements in Türkiye, income inequality and poverty are still relatively high. While much of the literature shows that financial development accelerates growth, there is no consensus on its clear impact on poverty and inequality. While some studies stress that financial development improves inequality and combats poverty by increasing the ability of advantage of new investment opportunities, and by improving the allocation of capital, others point out that the beneficial impact of financial development depends on whether the overall population or the upper-income groups benefit or not. Therefore, this paper aims to empirically investigate the impact of financial development on inequalities and poverty during the 2002–2017 period when Türkiye relatively has been prosperous. According to simultaneous equation regression findings, the widening of the financial sector leads to more equal income distribution and poverty alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports on the well-being and work motivation interactions of people working from home. Therefore, whether demographic variables could create differentiation is the second issue of this research. For their benefit, companies prefer to switch remote working formats to be financially efficient and innovative for the most necessities, led by knowledge and computer-based innovation communication technologies. However, on the employee's side, it is still debated whether this approach is good, bad or sustainable for a long time. The relevance of this scientific problem decision is arguable because there are many aspects of remote working practices and employer/employee interactions for finding an optimum. Therefore, well-being and work motivation were selected as the research aspects because these factors could reflect the perceived status of people working from home. The survey was administered in Turkey 4 months a time via an online questionnaire, which consisted of the Multidimensional Working Motivation Scale, the Well-Being Index and demographic variables related to a total of 19 questions with 214 participants. The gathered data revealed that work motivation and well-being interact in a positive manner according to the correlation coefficient. was 0.177 (p<0.01). The interaction between the Amotivation subscale and Well-Being was negative. was found to be -0.306 (p<001). However, demographic variables impacting the differentiation of work motivation and well-being are considered demographic variables, as not all demographic variables have the same impact on work motivation and well-being. The identified Regulation, Intrinsic Motivation and Well-Being interaction were also found to be positive, as they had correlation coefficients of 0.383 and 0.351, respectively. On the other hand, for demographic variable differential effect purposes, age and income had meaningful differential effects on well-being; 35-to 44-year-old people had more well-being points (57.2), and those whose income was higher had a better well-being situation (56.45) than others. However, for work motivation evaluation, there was no meaningful effect of demographic variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The accurate and reliable calculation of tonnage and quality of coal is vital for the success of mining projects. The Ermenek coal basin is located in the Western Taurus Mountains in the southern part of Turkey, which covers an area of approximately 620 km² and is a Neogene coal basin. This paper generates spatial modeling of Pamuklu-Tepebaşı coal seams in the Ermenek Basin and the prediction of coal reserve by using geostatistical methods with Ordinary Kriging (OK) based on the GIS technique. The data used in the study were obtained from 82 boreholes belonging to a private company that has actively produced coal in the Pamuklu-Tepebaşı coalfield. In this study, the OK method was applied to spatial coal seam modeling for comparison of the performance of 11 distinct models. Using the rational quadratic models better explained the spatial structure of the coal seam depth data. The nugget-sill ratio indicated high spatial dependency with 0.01 and 0.02 for coal seam upper-lower surfaces, respectively. The kriged coal depth maps for upper and lower coal seam surfaces have been created using ArcGIS 10.2 software. As a result of these analyses, it was calculated that there is a coal reserve of 3.734.017 m³ using the determined surfaces with OK in the study area. Furthermore, developed spatial distribution maps in the study area could be helpful to plan further exploration activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 6 February 2023, East Anatolia was devastated by two major earthquakes resulting in hundreds of thousands of collapses and tens of thousands of human casualties. This paper investigates the factors related to building properties and earthquake environmental effects (EEEs) that contributed to the building damage grade and distribution in southeastern Turkey. In regards to the building construction properties, the loose enforcement of the building code, the random urban planning solutions and the poor construction standards are the main construction deficiencies that led to one of the largest disasters in Turkey's recent history. Regarding geological factors, the triggering of primary and secondary EEEs largely shaped the grade and distribution of damage. Where coseismic surface ruptures intersected with the built environment, heavy to very heavy structural damage was observed. This was evident in many cases along the ruptured segments of the East Anatolian Fault Zone (EAFZ). Liquefaction observed close to waterbodies caused damage typical of building foundation load-bearing capacity loss. The earthquake-triggered landslides affected mainly mountainous and semi-mountainous settlements characterized with pre-earthquake high related susceptibility. The high susceptibility to generation of EEEs was extensively confirmed in many cases resulting in extensive damage. The provided information highlights the importance of such studies for hazard mitigation and disaster risk reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural displacement monitoring is one of the major tasks of structural health monitoring and it is a significant challenge for research and engineering practices relating to large-scale civil structures. While computer vision-based structural monitoring has gained traction, current practices largely focus on laboratory experiments, small-scale structures, or close-range applications. This paper demonstrates its applications on three landmark long-span suspension bridges in Turkey: the First Bosphorus Bridge, the Second Bosphorus Bridge, and the Osman Gazi Bridge, among the longest landmark bridges in the world, with main spans of 1074 m, 1090 m, and 1550 m, respectively. The presented studies achieved non-contact displacement monitoring from a distance of 600 m, 755 m, and 1350 m for the respective bridges. The presented concepts, analysis, and results provide an overview of long-span bridge monitoring using computer vision-based monitoring. The results are assessed with conventional monitoring approaches and finite element analysis based on observed traffic conditions. Both displacements and dynamic frequencies align well with these conventional techniques and finite element analyses. This study also highlights the challenges of computer vision-based structural monitoring of long-span bridges and presents considerations such as the encountered adverse environmental factors, target and algorithm selection, and potential directions of future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the unknown parameters of a SEIRS mathematical model for the dynamics of COVID-19 are estimated by the least squares approach using data of Trkiye. In the considered model, the infective group is divided into two classes consisting of diagnosed and undiagnosed individuals. Since the data for undiagnosed infective individuals in the community is unknown, three different scenarios are proposed. The numerical solutions of the model using the estimated parameter values and the actual data are demonstrated with graphs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper which comes under the theme of macro-historical perspectives and Mediterranean history I shall discuss the exchange of gifts in three sections: first between the Lusignan kings of Cyprus and the sultans of Mamluk Egypt and Syria, between the Lusignan kings and the Turkish emirs of Anatolia, and thirdly between the Venetian rulers of Cyprus, including Queen Catherine Cornaro, and the Mamluk sultans for the period postdating 1473. Many of these exchanges of gifts took place during times of war, sometimes during the prelude to hostilities and sometimes immediately after their end. In addition, exchanges of gifts between Christian and Muslim rulers occasionally took place at times of peace. The reasons why gifts were exchanged, the type of gifts exchanged when these are described, not an invariable occurrence, and the symbolism underlying these exchanges of gifts will also be analyzed where possible. Furthermore, occasions when the recipient refused to accept the gift and why it was rejected shall also be examined. Where possible, comparisons with the exchange of gifts taking place in other societies and countries of the Eastern Mediterranean will be alluded to and discussed. In terms of source materials, the Cypriot chronicles of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries will form the principal source but reference shall also be made to diplomatic correspondence of the period under discussion. The exchanges of gifts normally took place within a diplomatic setting, this being the arrival of embassies, and gifts were sent sometimes to the close advisers of a ruler who could influence his policy and decision-making. On certain occasions, however, the exchanges of gifts could take place outside of this diplomatic context, for example as an expression of gratitude for assistance received. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We considered various non‐uniformities such as branch faults, rotation of stress field directions, and changes in tectonic environments to simulate the dynamic rupture process of the 6 February 2023 Mw 7.8 Kahramanmaraş earthquake in SE Türkiye. We utilized near‐fault waveform data, GNSS static displacements, and surface rupture to constrain the dynamic model. The results indicate that the high initial stress accumulated in the Kahramanmaraş‐Çelikhan seismic gap leads to the successful triggering of the East Anatolian Fault (EAF) and the supershear rupture in the northeast segment. Due to the complexity of fault geometry, the rupture speed along the southeastern segment of the EAF varied repeatedly between supershear and subshear, which contributed to the unexpectedly strong ground motion. Furthermore, the triggering of the EAF reminds us to be aware of the risk of seismic gaps on major faults being triggered by secondary faults, which is crucial to prevent significant disasters. Plain Language Summary: On 6 February 2023, the south‐central Türkiye was hit by two major earthquakes with magnitudes of Mw 7.8 and Mw 7.6 respectively. Among them, the complex rupture process and unexpected ground motion of the Mw 7.8 event attracted the attention of seismologists. In this paper, the 3D dynamic rupture process of this mainshock is simulated based on complex multi‐fault system and heterogeneous initial stress. And the simulation results are in good agreement with the observations. Our results show that high initial stress is required for the EAF to be triggered. The supershear rupture occurred only in certain fault segments and is unable to sustain itself in a significant area on the fault due to the along‐strike variations in fault geometry and strength. More importantly, the dynamic model suggests that we must be alert to the risk of major fault being triggered by earthquakes on nearby small faults, especially when there are seismic gaps on the major fault. Key Points: The high initial stress accumulated in the seismic gap leads to the successful triggering of the East Anatolian FaultThe change of fault geometry in the southwest segment prevented the sustained supershear ruptureThe risk of earthquake nucleation on the secondary fault triggering the major fault rupture and the related disaster was highlighted [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building damage caused by natural disasters seriously threatens human security. Applying deep learning algorithms to identify collapsed buildings from remote sensing images is crucial for rapid post-disaster emergency response. However, the diversity of buildings, limited training dataset size, and lack of ground-truth samples after sudden disasters can significantly reduce the generalization of a pre-trained model for building damage identification when applied directly to non-preset locations. To address this challenge, a self-incremental learning framework (i.e., SELF) is proposed in this paper, which can quickly improve the generalization ability of the pre-trained model in disaster areas by self-training an incremental model using automatically selected samples from post-disaster images. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified on the 2010 Yushu earthquake, 2023 Turkey earthquake, and other disaster types. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach outperforms state-of-the-art methods in terms of collapsed building identification, with an average increase of more than 6.4% in the Kappa coefficient. Furthermore, the entire process of the self-incremental learning method, including sample selection, incremental learning, and collapsed building identification, can be completed within 6 h after obtaining the post-disaster images. Therefore, the proposed method is effective for emergency response to natural disasters, which can quickly improve the application effect of the deep learning model to provide more accurate building damage results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the advances in technology, electrical energy needs in rural and less developed regions are not yet fully met in terms of cost and sustainability. Nowadays, small-scale Photovoltaic (PV) systems can be transported to other regions and easily reinstalled so that these systems can be used in areas where needed for home usage and humanitarian purposes. There is no doubt that a PV-based microgrid is needed in rural and remote areas where energy is often important, and grid energy is not available or unstable. Mobility microgrid design studies can reduce time, effort, and costs significantly in such cases. Therefore, the design, modeling, and technical simulation of an isolated system based on solar energy are investigated and analyzed in this paper. This study also highlights the future trends of transportable-based isolated (off-grid) microgrid design which provides a sustainable solution for small-scale PV power generation. Additionally, an optimal solution approach for power management with Energy Storage (ES) and PV energy technologies is presented in the developed of an off-grid PV system. Aside from the designed system's cost-benefit analysis, important criteria such as lifespan, battery performance, and energy production have been evaluated. The Distributed Energy Resources (DER) with the load flow in 24-hour scenario is modeled, and simulated, also the findings are presented. Specifically, an application study for a 60.75 kWp isolated (off-grid) PV system with the 105.98 kWh ES, and 16 kVA diesel generator is discussed in terms of financial, regional, and technical parameters as well as numerical modeling, and MATLAB simulation for the province of Sanliurfa in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use and land cover (LULC) changes have some implications on land–atmosphere interactions, surface energy budget, and hydrological cycle. The understanding of LULC changes and their interactions with the environment provide better management of agriculture, forests, and water resources. LULC changes are frequently observed in developing countries such as Türkiye and much research has been conducted in this field. However, few studies investigated the countrywide LULC changes and their interactions with energy fluxes and precipitation. In this paper, LULC changes in Türkiye over the last two decades have been evaluated by utilizing an Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) derived from the Terra satellite. The latent and sensible heat fluxes were obtained from the Modern-Era Retrospective analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA-2) reanalysis datasets. Precipitation data were acquired from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite. The results showed that EVI has an increasing trend over Türkiye between 2000 and 2021, while climate change–induced desertification, droughts, and forest fires have threatened the vegetative cover in some portions of the country. The latent heat flux has a rising trend due to increasing vegetative cover and irrigated areas. A slight reduction was observed in sensible heat flux, while a sharp increase was witnessed in specific humidity. EVI represented a high positive correlation (R = 0.84) with sensible heat flux and a moderate positive correlation (R = 0.69) with latent heat flux. No significant relation was determined between EVI and precipitation on a monthly basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calibration methods enhance estimates by modifying the initial design weights, for which supplementary information is exploited. This paper first proposes a generalized class of minimum-covariance-determinant (MCD)-based calibration estimators and then presents a novel class of MCD-based calibrated estimators under a stratified median-ranked-set-sampling (MRSS) design. Further, we also present a double MRSS version of generalized and novel classes of estimators. To assess and compare the performance of the generalized and novel classes of estimators, both real and artificial datasets are utilized. In the presented practical scenarios and real-world applications, we utilize information from a dataset comprising 800 individuals in Turkey from 2014. These data include body mass index (BMI) as the primary variable of interest and age values as auxiliary variables. The BMI results shows that the proposed estimators (y ¯ P M I = 581.1897 , y ¯ P a M I = 544.8397) have minimum and (y ¯ P M I I = 669.1822 , y ¯ P a M I I = 648.2363) have maximum PREs in the case of single and double MRSS for odd sample sizes. Similarly, (y ¯ P M I = 860.0099 , y ¯ P a M I = 844.7803) have minimum and (y ¯ P M I I = 974.5859 , y ¯ P a M I I = 953.7233) have maximum PREs in the case of single and double MRSS for even sample sizes. Additionally, we conduct a simulation study using a symmetric dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pivetti et al. (2021a; 2021b) examined links between COVID-related conspiracy beliefs and acceptance of vaccinations in Italy and Finland in 2020. They found that moral purity negatively predicted confidence in science, whereas political orientation predicted COVID-related conspiracy beliefs. Confidence in science, general conspiracy beliefs, and COVID-related conspiracy beliefs were found to negatively predict support for governmental restrictions and attitudes towards vaccines, and positively predict perceptions of informational contamination. Finally, attitudes towards vaccines in general strongly predicted attitudes towards the COVID-19 vaccine. The current research seeks to replicate these findings conceptually on a predominately Muslim sample (N = 570, M age = 26.69, 69.8% females) in Turkey in 2021, when the COVID vaccines were widely available. Measures of religiosity and left, center, and right political orientations were added to the original instrument. Hypothesized serial mediational models were tested using structural equation modelling. Results revealed that left and center political orientations positively predicted COVID-related conspiracy beliefs and confidence in science. Religiosity was negatively related to confidence in science. Confidence in science and COVID-related conspiracy beliefs predicted general attitudes toward vaccines. Conspiracy beliefs predicted COVID-related conspiracy beliefs, which in turn negatively predicted support for government restrictions and positively predicted distrust in mainstream media. Attitudes towards vaccines were strongly and positively related to attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines. [This paper was added to the Special Issue on "Conspiracy Theories about Infectious Diseases" in a post-hoc manner. Online publishing allows the addition of new papers to a published special issue, thereby permitting a special issue to grow.] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the organizational awareness and marketing preferences of members of producer organizations in agriculture. The main material of this research consisted of surveys applied to 360 producers determined via the Proportional Sampling Method in Uşak province, Turkey. According to the research results, each of the producers was a member of at least one Producers' Organization (PO). 59.1% of producers were interested in the PO, and 33.6% of them think that crops should be marketed by the Agricultural Development Cooperative. The ratio of member producers marketing their products through the POs was 19.7%. Only 38.4% of members were satisfied with the selling price of products. The POs in the region were generally successful, and the most successful one was also the Agricultural Development Cooperative with 72.3%. In the study, marketing prices, satisfaction with being a member of the POs, and satisfaction with the organizational management variables were tested by the Chi-square, and it was viewed that there was no significant difference among them. The study is important in increasing the effectiveness of the POs in all areas of agriculture and improving the organizational awareness of their members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though Turkey's ruling party's (Justice and Development Party, the AKP) nation-building and desired citizen creation policies have been studied, its use of necropolitical narratives and propaganda in education has not been investigated. This paper addresses this gap by examining how the Turkish state ruled by the AKP has propagated its religious necropolitical narrative through the national curriculum and Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) in school textbooks, and magazines and comic books for children. The paper shows that these texts and comics try to indoctrinate children into a religious cult of martyrdom in different ways by encouraging them to view tragic death and getting killed for the nation as a positive event. This paper argues that these propaganda efforts are part of a religious necropolitical indoctrination campaign that seeks to create a new Islamist and jihadist generation of lifelong supporters of the AKP, which portrays itself in the educational texts as the embodiment of Islam, the Muslim Turkish nation and even the global Muslim community (ummah). This new religious generation is expected to believe that dying for the Islamist populist authoritarian regime is the greatest honour a person can bring upon themselves. This paper contributes to the necropolitics literature by showing that not only adults but also children have been targeted by authoritarian rulers' necropolitical propaganda attempts to create desired citizens who are ready to die for the regime, believing this is a religious obligation. Further research is needed to assess if and to what extent this propaganda has an impact on children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Islamic movements had seemed to be ubiquitous, but a little work had profoundly looked at the internal issues of those movements that marked their increase and influence. Some Islamic movements are reckoned as intermediate, missionary, or terrorist Islamic groups. However, in this research paper, we ascertained that giving much attention to one of the most influential Islamic movements globally, the Muslim Brotherhood “Ikhwanul Muslimin”, will conceivably provide ample information for the literature regarding, not just Ikhwanul Muslimin. But generally, Islamic movements such as Ikhwanul Muslimin are considered the mother and fulcrum of political Islam and the emergence of Islamic movements. Conclusively, this research paper interviewed the exmembers of Ikhwanul Muslimin in exile to investigate why they disowned Ikhwanul Muslimin? Moreover, to closely understand the current role of those ex-members in society and whether they joined other Islamic movements, for instance. This research paper ascertained that Ikhwanul Muslimin leaders would likely play a business role by launching schools and companies in Turkey instead of leading the Egyptian opposition against al-Sisi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the determinants of refugee students' social integration in Lebanon, Turkey, and Australia. This paper seeks to understand how legal status and the corresponding length of refugee asylum shape refugee children's social integration. The three host countries offer refugees different legal statuses ranging from short-term in Lebanon, medium-term in Turkey, and long-term in Australia. Therefore, our data collection covers a sample of 1298 middle school refugee students from all three countries. Our probit regression analysis sheds light on the importance of micro-level factors related to individual and household characteristics and meso-level factors related to school factors shaping refugee students' social integration. The statistical dominance of meso-level factors indicates that the within-country differences are stronger than the between-country differences, yet it does not rule out the importance of macro policies that indirectly influence refugee students' social integration by shaping provisions at the micro and meso levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey's government seeks to apply both "religious soft power" and "economic soft power" to increase its influence in Ghana. Turkey's religious soft power relationship with Ghana is exemplified by Turkey's paying for construction of a new national mosque in the African country, at a cost of USD 10 million. Turkey's economic soft power relationship with Ghana is exemplified by both considerable recent investments and in fast-growing bilateral trade. The overall aim of the government of Turkey is to increase the country's influence in Ghana, part of a wider initiative to expand its regional influence in Africa. Ghana is important to Turkey as it is regarded as a strategically important African country, one of the region's few democracies and an economic success. The paper assesses Turkey's various forms of influence in Ghana and considers what Turkey hopes to achieve in foreign policy terms. The paper is in four sections. The first examines religious soft power and Turkey–Ghana relations, noting that recently they have become closer and more cordial, involving both religious and non-religious aspects. The second section examines Muslims' traditionally marginal political position in Ghana and explains that over time Muslims have become more politically assertive, open to external religious influences, including from Turkey, a country well known to use religious soft power to try to expand its foreign policy influence. The third section assesses recent Ghana-Turkey relations, including the expansion of Turkey's economic soft power, with three examples: the national mosque, encouraging Islamic education, and mutual desire to quell the activities of what the government of Turkey refers to as the "Fethullah Terrorist Organisation". The section also considers the role of Turkey's economic soft power in increasing the country's presence in Ghana. The concluding section argues that the government of Turkey uses several techniques to increase its influence in Ghana, including both religious soft power and economic soft power. The government of Ghana broadly welcomes Turkey's influence from both religious and economic perspectives: from a religious point of view, Turkey's Sunni orthodoxy is seen as very unlikely to stimulate radicalization among Ghana's Muslims, while Turkey's economic presence is welcomed as an important means to help further build Ghana's economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to clarify the concept of 'civilizational populism' and work towards a concise but operational definition. To do this, the article examines how populists across the world, and in a variety of different religious, geographic, and political contexts, incorporate and instrumentalize notions of 'civilization' into their discourses. The article observes that although a number of scholars have described a civilization turn among populists, there is currently no concrete definition of civilization populism, a concept which requires greater clarity. The article also observes that, while scholars have often found populists in Europe incorporating notions of civilization and 'the clash of civilizations' into the discourses, populists in non-Western environments also appear to have also incorporated notions of civilization into their discourses, yet these are rarely studied. The first part of the article begins by discussing the concept of 'civilizationism', a political discourse which emphasizes the civilizational aspect of social and especially national identity. Following this, the article discusses populism and describes how populism itself cannot succeed unless it adheres to a wider political programme or broader set of ideas, and without the engendering or exploiting of a 'crisis' which threatens 'the people'. The article then examines the existing literature on the civilization turn evident among populists. The second part of the article builds on the previous section by discussing the relationship between civilizationism and populism worldwide. To do this, the paper examines civilizational populism in three key nations representing three of the world's major faiths, and three different geographical regions: Turkey, India, and Myanmar. The paper makes three findings. First, while scholars have generally examined civilizational identity in European and North American right-wing populist rhetoric, we find it occurring in a wider range of geographies and religious contexts. Second, civilizationism when incorporated into populism gives content to the key signifiers: 'the pure people', 'the corrupt elite', and 'dangerous 'others'. In each case studied in this article, populists use a civilization based classification of peoples to draw boundaries around 'the people', 'elites' and 'others', and declare that 'the people' are 'pure' and 'good' because they belong to a civilization which is itself pure and good, and authentic insofar as they belong to the civilization which created the nation and culture which populists claim to be defending. Conversely, civilizational populists describe elites as having betrayed 'the people' by abandoning the religion and/or values and culture that shaped and were shaped by their civilization. Equally, civilizational populists describe religious minorities as 'dangerous' others who are morally bad insofar as they belong to a foreign civilization, and therefore to a different religion and/or culture with different values which are antithetical to those of 'our' civilization. Third, civilizational populist rhetoric is effective insofar as populists' can, by adding a civilizational element to the vertical and horizontal dimensions of their populism, claim a civilizational crisis is occurring. Finally, based on the case studies, the paper defines civilizational populism as a group of ideas that together considers that politics should be an expression of the volonté générale (general will) of the people, and society to be ultimately separated into two homogenous and antagonistic groups, 'the pure people' versus 'the corrupt elite' who collaborate with the dangerous others belonging to other civilizations that are hostile and present a clear and present danger to the civilization and way of life of the pure people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current status and annotated checklist of fresh- and brackish-water amphipod species inhabiting the inland waters (streams, lakes, ponds, lagoons, subterranean waters, etc.) of Turkey is presented. Totally, 171 papers, 3 books, 3 book chapters, 5 conference papers, 2 projects, 3 PhD and 3 MSc thesis were examined in the present study. As the result of the previous records, 201 taxa comprising 121 amphipods (16 families, 31 genera), 27 isopods (9 families, 13 genera), 9 mysids (1 family, 5 genera), 4 tanaids (3 families, 4 genera) and 40 decapods (16 families, 18 genera) were compiled. All the previously recorded localities of each taxon were listed in detail. The endemic taxa and the doubtful records were indicated and discussed. Twenty maps showing the distribution of reported species were also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Once voted into office, populist governments have often found undemocratic means to prolong their stay. The literature on populists in power is evolving and expanding. However, it has mainly focused on how the populists in power attack institutions such as the judiciary, rule erosion, and dirty institutionalism. How populists make use of the law and the judiciary to prolong their authoritarian rule remains an area that is under-researched. The populists' use of informal institutions such as the unofficial law when in power has not been studied either. This paper addresses these gaps in the populism literature by studying Turkey's Islamist populist ruling party's use of informal law in prolonging its authoritarian rule. The paper argues that the Islamist civilisational populist AKP has been using informal Islamist law for both the legitimation of its rule and the repression of the opposition. It shows how the AKP officials, the state's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), the pro-AKP Sharia scholars, and other informal religious authorities employ the civilisational populist Islamist legal narrative to argue that according to Sharia it is obligatory to choose the side of the God that is represented by the AKP and to vote against the infidel opposition that is an existential danger to the pure Muslim people of Turkey and their religion. The paper combines and contributes to two theoretical strands. The first is civilisational populism, and the second is the informal institutions, with a focus on informal law and legal pluralism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Load profile coefficients (LPCs) represent the pattern of electricity usage daily and yearly for electrical energy consumers. It is important to determine the LPCs accurately and reliably, in order to minimize the imbalance costs in the Electricity Energy Market. Reliable methods and sufficient measurement data are required to make accurate forecasts. The local distribution company (TLDC) already calculates the profile coefficients by taking the average of the consumptions without meteorological measurements in Turkey. TLDC determines the LPC by receiving hourly consumption data directly from the consumers. In this paper, the mathematical forecasting models (MFMs) have been produced for determining LPC Duzce in Turkey using the multiple regression analysis method for the first time. Firstly, hourly electrical energy consumption and meteorological temperatures were measured in some predetermined residential subscribers. The MFMs have been produced by using the measured data, and then, LPCs have been determined by using the MFMs. The electrical energy consumptions have been estimated using the determined LPCs, and the estimation results have been compared with the measurement data. The MFMs have been subjected to suitability tests accepted in the literature, and the performances of the models have been verified. According to the results obtained, it has been seen that the MFMs can estimate loads with an accuracy of up to 96% depending on the future changing meteorological conditions, and it has been proposed as a quick and practical method for LPCs calculation. The paper shows that the produced MFMs provide obtaining satisfactory results for energy consumption forecasting for Duzce in Turkey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The resurgence of religion worldwide proved that secularization is not a de facto reality of modernity and the initial chaos that came along with the birth of postmodernity evolved into uniquely developing combinations that recognized cosmopolitan, multicultural, and hybrid (i.e., fluid and hyphenated) identities. Universal values became more instrumental than ever to connect members of hyper diverse societies while ethnocentric, nativist and exclusivist patriotism expired (and only recently starting to attract far right and white supremacist groups alone). Most Islamic revivalist movements emerging from this context have had minimal interactions with non-Muslims and influence on mainstream societies. Being in search of a solution to respond to the overwhelming effects of the West on Muslim societies, these revivalist movements could not change (and maybe contributed to) the binary positioning of Islam and the West. On the contrary, the Hizmet movement, inspired by Muhammed Fethullah Gülen and his predecessor Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, appeared in the global arena as an Islamic revivalist movement whose discourse resonated with the commonly shared universal values of every culture, ethnicity, and religion. The Hizmet movement did not position itself as an antithesis to Westernization, secularism, and modernity; the movement adopted a universalist and all-inclusive attitude, which re-introduced to the world that Islam is universal religion with the capacity to accommodate people of diversity and meet the needs of every age. This paper explores the Hizmet movement's historical, theological, and social roots as a transnational Islamic revivalist movement. It analyzes the movement's outreach across multicultural societies and its capability to adapt to a changing world through its educational and interfaith and intercultural activities across the globe. While unpacking thirty years of the Hizmet movement's activities and the contribution to the literature, the paper also addresses some of the criticisms that have emerged regarding the movement and its activities, particularly in the wake of the 2016 failed coup attempt in Turkey. It should be noted that much criticism toward the movement emerged in recent years, and the movement did not face much backlash in its early years of development. With this in mind, this paper explores the development of the Hizmet movement and how much of its initiatives rapidly left a positive mark on diverse societies around the world. The paper is thus structured chronologically, tracing the birth, growth, stagnation, and transition (or according to some collapse) of the movement. The paper, by extension, too, positions the Hizmet movement within the phenomenon of contemporary Islamic revivalism as this movement is born out of similar conditions as are other Islamic revivalist movements but taking a slightly different direction, which is that it challenges the prevailing binary 'us and them' discourses produced mostly in ethno-centric political discourses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The founders of the secular Turkish Republic, the Kemalists used secular nationalist education to build a secular Turkish nation and to create their own version of modern pro-Western secular Turkish citizens. This paper argues that Turkey's current ruling party, the AKP (Justice and Development Party) has been using the same system of education to create its own desired citizens with Islamist Populist ideals. This has been done without changing the secular principles of the constitution and laws on national education since there are several constraints that would prevent AKP to have open and declared pro-Sharia changes to the law. Thus, unlike many other Islamists in the other parts of the world, the paper shows that the AKP has chosen to undermine the secularity of the system, constitution, and law in an ad hoc, gradual and undeclared fashion. The paper concludes by noting that no matter the change in political actors and their ideologies, education is monopolized by the state for political purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The genus Microphor contains small to very small true flies (Diptera) well known for the kleptoparasitic behavior of females, often observed as "stealing" tiny prey from spider webs. Altogether, 22 species of the genus (including 5 described in this paper) are known worldwide, and our paper loosely follows a recent study from North America. It is quite surprising that we add five new species to seven already known from West Palaearctic, which is the most studied area in the world with respect to the Diptera. Microphor baechlii sp. nov. (Switzerland, Turkey), M. chvalai sp. nov. (France), M. nevadensis sp. nov. (Spain), M. pallipes sp. nov. (Italy), and M. turcicus sp. nov. (Turkey) are described and illustrated. The neotype of M. anomalus (Meigen, 1824) is designated. Males of all known Palaearctic species of Microphor are keyed, genitalia are illustrated for new species and species previously inadequately illustrated, and main diagnostic characters are discussed. Microphorstrobli Chvála, 1986 is newly recorded from Bulgaria, M. anomalus (Meigen, 1824) is newly recorded from Turkey, and M. holosericeus (Meigen, 1804) is newly recorded from Turkey and Portugal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an investigation into the relationship between heart attacks and the Omicron variant, employing a novel mathematical model. The model incorporates two adjustable control parameters to manage the number of infected individuals and individuals with the Omicron variant. The study examines the model's positivity and boundedness, evaluates the reproduction number (R0), and conducts a sensitivity analysis of the control parameters based on the reproduction number. The model's parameters are estimated using the widely utilized least squares curve fitting method, employing real COVID-19 cases from Türkiye. Finally, numerical simulations demonstrate the efficacy of the suggested controls in reducing the number of infected individuals and the Omicron population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 6 February 2023, at 1:17:34 UTC, a powerful Mw = 7.8 earthquake shook parts of Turkey and Syria. Investigating the behavior of different earthquake precursors around the time and location of this earthquake can facilitate the creation of an earthquake early warning system in the future. Total electron content (TEC) obtained from the measurements of GPS satellites is one of the ionospheric precursors, which in many cases has shown prominent anomalies before the occurrence of strong earthquakes. In this study, five classical and intelligent anomaly detection algorithms, including median, Kalman filter, artificial neural network (ANN)-multilayer perceptron (MLP), long short-term memory (LSTM), and ant colony optimization (ACO), have been used to detect seismo-anomalies in the time series of TEC changes in a period of about 4 months, from 1 November 2022 to 17 February 2023. All these algorithms show outstanding anomalies in the period of 10 days before the earthquake. The median method shows clear TEC anomalies in 1, 2 and, 3 days before the event. Since the behavior of the time series of a TEC parameter is complex and nonlinear, by implementing the Kalman filter method, pre-seismic anomalies were observed in 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10 days prior to the main shock. ANN as an intelligent-method-based machine learning also emphasizes the abnormal behavior of the TEC parameter in 1, 2, 3, 6, and 10 days before the earthquake. As a deep-learning-based predictor, LSTM indicates that the TEC value in the 10 days prior to the event has crossed the defined permissible limits. As an optimization algorithm, the ACO method shows behavior similar to Kalman filter and MLP algorithms by detecting anomalies 3, 7, and 10 days before the earthquake. In a previous paper, the author showed the findings of implementing a fuzzy inference system (FIS), indicating that the magnitude of the mentioned powerful earthquake could be predicted during about 9 to 1 day prior to the event. The results of this study also confirm the findings of another study. Therefore, considering that different lithosphere–atmosphere–ionosphere (LAI) precursors and different predictors show abnormal behavior in the time period before the occurrence of large earthquakes, the necessity of creating an earthquake early warning system based on intelligent monitoring of different precursors in earthquake-prone areas is emphasized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pollen morphology of 23 Allium L. species, grown in Turkey, belonging to the sections; Rhizirideum, Schoenoprasum, Cepa, Molium, Brevispatha, Scorodon, Acanthoprason and Melanocrommyum, were investigated by LM (light microscopy), TEM (transmission electron microscope), and SEM (scanning electron microscopy). This paper presents detailed pollen morphological features are given for these taxa. Common characteristics of pollen of Allium species investigated are ellipsoidal and heteropolar, bilateral symmetry; pollen grains are shed as monads. They are monosulcate (extended sulcate types) and monosulcate-operculate. The sculpturing of the exine, pollen membrane ornamentation, lumina shape, and sulcus membrane with a fragmented operculum are found to be characteristic features for separating species. Based on these properties three main pollen types were determined with three different exine sculpturing. The characteristic structures of pollen ornamentation, observed in SEM micrographs, are striateperforate, striateregulate- perforate and regulate-perforate. Sulcus membrane ornamentations are psilate, psilate-perforate, rugulate and regulate-perforate. The exine is semitectate and the tectum perforate. Columellae were found to be simplicolumellate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2003 UNESCO Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage introduces a set of interrelated measures among which education is an intersection point. Since education is crucial to the transmission of intangible cultural heritage (ICH), the States Parties have focused their attention on connecting their activities to the education sector in recent years, with formal education making up the greater part of the efforts. Belgium and Türkiye both ratified the Convention in 2006 and education ministries in both countries or parts in it seem to have concentrated on secondary education (12-18 years old) to raise awareness of the meaning and importance of safeguarding ICH. The purpose of this paper is to compare and evaluate the Flemish and Turkish formal education systems at the secondary education level regarding the implementation of the Convention. Therefore, this qualitative research is based on the investigation of the policy texts and curriculum (mainly in Dutch and Turkish) that are explicitly or implicitly connected to the presence of ICH in the education systems of both cases. From this perspective, it takes the ratification of the Convention by both countries as its point of departure and presents three levels of discussion. First, in order to comprehend the present context wherein potential connections between ICH and education are established, the overall policy of Flanders and Türkiye is briefly outlined. Second, the discussion is directed to the implications these policy choices might raise. In the final section, the frame of discussion is further narrowed to the level of curricular choices. It can be stated that the analysis of the documents revolved around the implications of centrality (Türkiye) and relative autonomy (Flanders) to mobilize ICH in education. While in Türkiye, the course Folk Culture in secondary education was initiated on the national level as a direct response to the Convention, in Flanders, this safeguarding perspective did not seem to have permeated educational policy processes. However, the Flemish Government has tolerated an open curriculum framework that seems beneficial for the inclusion of relevant content on a regional or local level. Considering achieving connections with its specific teaching context, in both cases, attention has to be drawn to the role of teacher agency. It can be stated that teachers are in need of a balance between sufficient support (capacity building, instruction manuals, didactic suggestions, explicit references to ICH) and the autonomy to execute (open curricula, professional freedom). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Damage identification soon after a large-magnitude earthquake is a major problem for early disaster response activities. The faster the damaged areas are identified, the higher the survival chances of inhabitants. Current methods for damage identification are based on the application of artificial intelligence techniques using remote sensing data. Such methods require a large amount of high-quality labeled data for calibration and/or fine-tuning processes, which are expensive in the aftermath of large-scale disasters. In this paper, we propose a novel semi-supervised classification approach for identifying urban changes induced by an earthquake between images recorded at different times. We integrate information from a small set of labeled data with information from ground motion and fragility functions computed on large unlabeled data. A relevant consideration is that ground motion and fragility functions can be computed in real time. The urban changes induced by the 2023 Turkey earthquake sequence are reported as an evaluation of the proposed method. The method was applied to the interferometric coherence computed from C-band synthetic aperture radar images from Sentinel-1. We use only 39 samples labeled as changed and 9000 unlabeled samples. The results show that our method is able to identify changes between images associated with the effects of an earthquake with an accuracy of about 81%. We conclude that the proposed method can rapidly identify affected areas in the aftermath of a large-magnitude earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multiple choice exams appear as the most common method used to measure student success in education systems in Turkey and around the world. Evaluation of multiple choice exams is usually done by optical form reading systems using expensive optical forms and optical scanners. The most important reason for using optical form reading systems is to reduce the error rate to zero in the evaluation process. In this study, an alternative system is proposed for the evaluation of multiple choice exams. The designed system is a web-based software with high accuracy on evaluating that contains optical form design module, session planning module and evaluation module. The form in which the designed template will be printed on A4 paper instead of a special optical form and the system in which standard scanners will be used instead of the optical scanner, uses the image processing algorithms in the OpenCV library in the evaluation process which is an intermediate library developed in C#. The proposed system is coded to run in parallel to speed up the evaluation process. In order to determine the performance of the proposed system, the optical forms filled by 208 students studying at Karamanoğlu Mehmetbey University, Department of Computer Engineering were evaluated. The accuracy rate of the system has been determined as 99.97%. It has been determined that 1 optical evaluation time, calculated by dividing the total time obtained by running in parallel, by the number of evaluated optical forms, varies between 1.7 seconds and 15 seconds, depending on the scanning resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper delves into the intricate relationship between religious populism and the legitimization of digital authoritarianism in Turkey. Specifically, it investigates how the ruling party, AKP, has strategically linked Islamist values to state policies as a means of justifying its repressive control over digital technology. Through an examination of internet governance at multiple levels—full network-level governance, sub-network or website-level governance, proxy or corporation-level governance, and network–node or individual-level governance—the study reveals the instrumentalization of religious populism to consolidate support and validate the government's autocratic agenda. Furthermore, it sheds light on the role of state-controlled religious institutions, traditional media, social media outlets, as well as religious leaders and organizations in shaping public opinion, enabling the government to exert greater control over the dissemination of information. By dissecting the religious populist justification of digital authoritarianism in Turkey, this research provides valuable insights into the complex dynamics at play in the realm of online governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the history of Islamic philosophy, the soul, similar to other sciences, has been discussed based on various factors such as human efforts for self-knowledge, the relationship between the human and the soul, whether the soul would be returned in the next world. Sufis were interested in this topic and tried to explain the problems associated with the soul such as its existence, nature, its relationship with the body, and the conferment and punishment of the soul. Ubaid Allah al-Samarkandi, who was not indifferent to this, discussed his ideas about the soul in Risale fi’r-ruh.The paper aims to clarify the views of Ubaid Allah al-Samarkandi, who was an expert in the sciences of Sufism, Fiqh ( Jurisprudence), and Kalam (Science of Discourse), based on his analyses of soul. Furthermore, the study discusses the data on his explanation of the human nature within the framework of the soul. Ubaid Allah al-Samarkandi opposes the views of the philosophers by defending the perspective of Ahl al-Sunnah in his risala. In the risala, the author analyzes the nature of the soul, its ancient and traditional properties, its meaning as “nafs”, and whether a human consists of only the soul or he/she is assumed as whole with the soul and the body together [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In February 2023, Mw 7.8 and Mw 7.7 earthquakes struck southeastern Turkey. Generating a coseismic 3D deformation field that can directly reflect the characteristics of surface deformation is important for revealing the movement mode of a seismogenic fault and analyzing the focal mechanism. Optical image sub-pixel correlation (SPC) only captures deformation in the horizontal direction, and SAR image pixel offset tracking (POT) obtains range deformation that is not sensitive to north–south deformation signals. Thus, neither of them can capture the complete 3D deformation alone. Combining them may be able to allow the monitoring of 3D deformation. In this study, we used Sentinel-2 optical images to obtain the horizontal deformation (east–west and north–south) and Sentinel-1 and ALOS-2 data to extract the range and azimuth offsets. The least-squares method was used to fuse the optical and SAR offsets to obtain the 3D deformation field of the 2023 Turkey earthquake sequence, which indicates that the two events were both left-lateral strike-slip earthquakes. The surface deformation caused by the two large earthquakes is mainly in the east–west direction. In the vertical direction, the two earthquakes caused a small-magnitude uplift and subsidence. The findings in this paper can be used as a reference for the study of coseismic 3D deformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Health records changed over time in the countries, and also Türkiye passed from paper versions to personal health records (PHR) and put patients at the center of the system by allowing them to become the master of their health data. Aims: Presenting the current state of the e-Nabız application nationwide in Turkey, and to evaluate the benefits of patients' online access to electronic health records and the system's interoperability. Study Design: A descriptive observational study Methods: In the Turkish PHR system (e-Nabız), services to patients to manage their health are categorized and analyzed within the scope of national digital health services. In addition, the data validation in the e-Nabız within itself has been systematically expressed. Results: The Turkish PHR system allows users to use 30 different services for treatment, prevention, health promotion, and healthrelated and interrelated areas. Moreover, some statistics regarding the categories specified in the e-Nabız system are included. Today, data is flowing from 28,608 system-integrated health facilities and 39 e-Nabız integrated public institutions. In addition, 4.5 billion transactions are done by people by 2023 and 220 million users are queried by physicians to reach patients' labs and results. Plus, the e-Nabız is adopted by 82% of the Türkiye population. Conclusion: There is no universal model for the content of the PHR. Given its importance to the patient, the content evolved and will continue to grow over the years. With the advent of coronavirus disease 2019, the system is equipped with three new services. The importance of these services over time and in the future has been demonstrated with increasing momentum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two strong earthquakes occurred in Turkey on 6 February 2023, at 01:17:34 (nighttime, Mw = 7.8) and at 10:24:50 UT (daytime, Mw = 7.5). The seismo-ionospheric impact is an important part of the near-Earth environment state. This paper provides the first results on the ionospheric effects associated with the aforementioned earthquakes. We used data from global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receivers and ionosondes. We found that both earthquakes generated circle disturbance in the ionosphere, detected by GNSS data. The amplitude of the ionospheric response caused by daytime M7.5 earthquake exceeded by five times that caused by nighttime M7.8 earthquake: 0.5 TECU/min and 0.1 TECU/min, respectively, according to the ROTI data. The velocities of the earthquake-related ionospheric waves were ~2000 m/s, as measured by ROTI, for the M7.5 earthquake. TEC variations with 2–10 min periods showed velocities from 1500 to 900 m/s as disturbances evolved. Ionospheric disturbances occurred around epicenters and propagated to the south by means of 2–10 min TEC variations. ROTI data showed a more symmetric distribution with irregularities observed both to the South and to the North from 10:24:50 UT epicenter. The ionospheric effects were recorded over 750 km from the epicenters. Ionosonde located 420/490 km from the epicenters did not catch ionospheric effects. The results show significant asymmetry in the propagation of coseismic ionospheric disturbances. We observed coseismic ionospheric disturbances associated with Rayleigh mode and acoustic modes, but we did not observe disturbances associated with acoustic gravity mode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates whether Turkish populism has undergone a 'civilizational turn' akin to what Brubaker, Haynes, Yilmaz, and Morieson have described occurring among populist parties in Europe and North America. The article applies Yilmaz and Morieson's definition of 'civilizational populism' to Turkey under the rule of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) in order to determine whether the party conforms to this definition. The article investigates how the AKP, an Islamist and populist political party lead by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has increasingly incorporated what we term 'civilizational populism' into its discourse. The article shows the impact of civilizational populism on Turkey's domestic and foreign policy under the AKP rule. The article finds that the AKP has increasingly, and especially since the 2013 Gezi Park protests and the mysterious coup attempt in 2016, construed opposition between the Turkish 'self' and the 'other' not in primarily nationalist terms, but in religious and civilizational terms, and as a conflict between the Ottoman-Islamic 'self' and 'Western' other. Furthermore, the article finds that the AKP's domestic and foreign policies reflect its civilizational populist division of Turkish society insofar as the party is attempting to raise a 'pious generation' that supports its Islamizing of Turkey society, and its nostalgic neo-Ottomanist power projections in the Middle East. Finally, the paper discusses how the AKP's civilizational populism has become a transnational populist phenomenon due to the party's ability to produce successful television shows that reflect its anti-Western worldview and justify its neo-Ottoman imperialism in the Middle East. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the use of religion by an authoritarian ruling party to delegitimize political opposition through securitization. The case study presented is the ruling AKP in Turkey, which initially promised to desecuritize the Kurdish issue to co-opt the Kurdish opposition but eventually resorted to the demonization narratives and repressive policies of the secular Turkish state; however, in addition to labeling the Kurdish opposition as terrorists, the AKP deployed religion to legitimize its repressive policies on religious grounds. The Turkish case shows that not in legitimizing (via desecuritization), but in delegitimizing opposition (via securitization) religion has been the main tool deployed by the ruling party. This finding needs to be tested in other contexts and cases. Additionally, since this paper only focuses on the narrative of the AKP's religious delegitimization, further research is needed to measure its efficacy and impact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of carbon capture and storage techniques has become essential to reduce and mitigating CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. CarbFix1 and CarbFix2 projects carried out in Iceland demonstrated that the emissions of waste CO2 gas from geothermal power plants can be captured and mixed with the effluent geofluid and subsequently injected back into the geothermal reservoir. This experience gained in the CarbFix projects expanded into other geothermal fields around Europe, and one of the demonstration sites is the geothermal field in Turkey, Kızıldere. This paper focuses on the results of an updated study on early field evaluations with reactive transport simulations. In the new three-dimensional numerical model, the geological formations and fault zones were updated according to the well-logs data. Based on the tracer tests performed in the field, the anisotropic permeabilities between the wells were evaluated and imposed into the model. Geofluid chemistry, mineral components, and the volume fractions used as input in the simulations are modified depending on the performed laboratory experiments on the metamorphic schists taken from the geothermal site (i.e. X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), scanning-electron microscope (SEM), and batch reactor tests). Different thermodynamic databases such as Lawrance Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Thermoddem databases were tested using PHREEQC and TOUGHREACT programs for consistency with experiments. The thermodynamic conditions and the geofluid-rock-CO2 interactions prevent the mineralization of CO2 in the reservoir. This outcome differs from CarbFix projects in terms of the carbonization process, but the CO2 injection is still reliable with solubility-trapping in a geothermal reservoir to partially mitigate the emission. Roughly, 200 kt of CO2 in 10 years can be safely injected into the geothermal reservoir. According to the new analysis, the ratio of magnesium, sodium, and potassium varies in solid solution series of feldspars and clay minerals as albite end-member and montmorillonite/illite end-members, respectively. The evaluations of solid solution reactions are relatively limited in the law of mass action approach used by PHREEQC and TOUGHREACT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The physicochemical conditions of thermal springs are one of the most significant barriers for detecting microbial life. According to the findings of various studies, high-throughput DNA sequencing technology can be utilized to perform more precise and detailed microbiome assessments. The main goal of this paper was to determine the microbiome in a thermal spring by metabarcoding environmental DNA obtained from four different sources and revealing how temperature and chemical composition affect the microbiome. This research also aimed to gather information that will aid in determining the best gene region and bioinformatic pipeline. The findings revealed a link between four different thermal springs' physicochemical parameters and microbial composition and we found various manipulable steps in this study. This research is also first comprehensive thermal spring metabarcoding study conducted in Turkey. One of the most significant challenges for detecting microbial life in thermal springs by conventional techniques such as culturing is these places' physicochemical (temperature, heavy metal content, pH, etc.) conditions. Data from several studies suggest that high-throughput DNA sequencing technologies can be used to perform more accurate and detailed microbiome analyses. The primary aim of this paper was to determine the microbiome in the thermal source by metabarcoding environmental DNA isolated from four different sources and reveal the reflection of differences caused by temperature and chemical content on the microbiome. DNA was extracted from water filtered with enclosed filters and using the Illumina high-throughput sequencing platform, V3 and V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene were sequenced. The results showed a correlation between physicochemical conditions and microorganism composition of four different thermal springs. Springs with extremely high temperature (89–90 °C) were dominated by hyperthermophiles such as Hydrogenobacter and Thermus, while a spring with a high temperature (52 °C) was dominated by thermophiles such as Thermoanaerobaculum and Desulfurispora, and a spring with a low temperature (26 °C) and high salinity was dominated by halophiles and sulfur-oxidizers such as Hydrogenovibrio and Sulfirimonas. With this research, we observed many manipulable steps according to the work of interest. This study sought to obtain data that will help decide the right gene region and choose the optimal bioinformatic pipeline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in conflict zones show the proliferation of Un)manned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) or combat drones and how they transform and shape new warfare. A rapidly growing literature examines UAV’s performance and utilization by the first generation of drone producers and users like the U.S. and Israel. However, the acquisition, proliferation, and production of combat drones by middle and small states and how these new technologies are applied in warfare by these countries have attracted less attention. The paper explores Türkiye as a producer and active user of UAVs in conflicts in Africa and the Middle East and Azerbaijan as a small state that is a consumer of Turkish and Israeli drones. The paper argues that drones provide an advantage on the battlefield, increase precision in wars, and expand the methods used in wars against insurgency; however, the proliferation of drones simultaneously makes states prone to war and so increases the vulnerability of regional peace and security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological textile and paper materials shed light on cultural studies in different fields. In this study, a composite textile material and 2 printed Biblical artifacts of the 19th c., found during the excavation of the Balatlar Building Complex were investigated. The building complex, also known as the Balatlar Church or Mithridates Palace, is an imperial hamam complex belonging to the Roman Period, located in the Ada Street of Sinope province in the north of Turkey. It was found that different materials such as metal yarn, paper used under embroidery, and decorative beads used on textile material were used in the textile fragment recovered from tomb VIII of the Balatlar Building Complex. The investigation concerned the fiber types and dyestuffs for textile material, paper types and dyestuffs used for biblical artifacts by using non-destructive and microanalysis methods for these unique heritage objects. Attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), Optical microscope (OM), Digital Microscope (DM), Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (SEM-EDX) and High-Performance Liquid Chromatography -Diode Array Detector (HPLC-DAD) was used. It was determined that the textile find consists of two different fabrics, the main fabric, and the lining, and the dye that gives the main fabric its red color is the root dye (Rubia tinctorum L.). Also, Alizarin and madder (Rubia tinctorum L.) was determined as a plant source. It has been established that only the pattern threads are silk threads. HPLC-DAD chromatograms has been analyzed of paper pieces of the, written and unwritten sides, paperboard and leather sides archaeological L.(Large) Bible and S. (Small) Bible books. It was concluded that natural dyestuffs were not used in the production of the paper and leather parts of the L.Bible and S.Bible books. For the written text Iron (III)-gallic acid binary complex vibration bands were detected. Documentation and research studies conducted on 2 discovered Biblical artifacts have shown that biological degradation has occurred on the surface of the artifact. As a result of microscopic examination, it was found that the cover part of the L.Bible was made of cardboard and there were remnants of gray side paper. Remnants of leather-prepared binding were found on the surface of S.Biblical artifact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Child marriages are not historical issues or a thing of the past. This issue, which has legal, social, economic, psychologic, and anthropological roots and should be examined in this context, stands as a global and burning problem that awaits a solution not only in Turkey but also in all parts of the world including developed countries. Moreover, child marriage did not exist only in Ottoman-Islamic legal regulations but also in Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Roman, Egyptian, and Athenian civilizations. It has also been part of Hebrew or Christian traditions. Therefore, this phenomenon should not be reduced to a single society, culture, civilization, or religious tradition. Child marriage is related to the meaning associated with the concept of marriage and rather than an application that takes religion as a reference. Thus, it is necessary to accurately understand the meaning associated with the concept of child in Ottoman-Islamic law in order to comprehend this phenomenon in the Ottoman history. Those who are considered children in the 21st century was considered adults in the 19th or early 20th century. They were treated as individuals who claimed social and legal responsibilities. Therefore, one should pay attention to historical meanings of childhood in order to understand the teen marriages in the past rather than looking at the present meaning of the term. Otherwise, a contextual understanding of practices of previous centuries will be obscured. In the Ottoman Empire, Hanafism, the official Islamic school of law, had not set an age limit for the eligibility of marriage until 1917 when reformists passed a new regulation, i.e., the Family Law. Again, according to the Hanafi perspective, extended family members or relatives had been empowered to marry off younger members of the family, which is called "velâyet-i icbâr." Consequently, it allowed grandfathers, fathers, or other senior members of an extended family to marry off children. In the Ottoman society marrying off young women was already a custom and it was usual to marry off young girls as well. Various factors played a role for child marriages. Economic considerations were part of familial motivation but there were also considerations of "sexual purity" before marriage or family reputation. In some cases, grooms did not want to miss an opportunity to marry a girl whom they wanted to unite their lives with. In other cases, families simply wanted to ease their "financial burden" on their family budget. The number of orphans among the early marriages in the Ottoman society amounted to a significant rate and it should not be underestimated in general evaluation of the subject. In order to secure the welfare of the orphan girls their guardians usually married them off at an early age with a noble intention. However, ill-tended relatives also involved in marrying orphan girls and abused their legal powers. This paper examines such an abusive case on Nesibe's marriage in the 19th century. When young Nesibe's father passed away, a legal guardian was assigned a legal while her mother Hayriye hanim was alive. When Nesibe was visiting her older sister in Beykoz, her sister married off Nesibe. When her mother and legal guardian were informed about this marriage, Hayriye hanim went to Zaptiye Nezâreti (Ottoman Police Department) along with the guardian Hafiz Halid Efendi to petition about the marriage. In their petition they expressed that they had also married off Nesibe to a "honorable and moral" man three months ago. In this situation, Nesibe was thirteen years old when her mother and legal guardian married off her three months before her sister married off her to another man again. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate that how "velâyet-i icbâr," the power of an extended family members or relatives to marry off young members of the family, had been abused in the Ottoman empire as the case of Nesibe's marriage provides some evidence. Islamic jurisprudents, especially those of the Hanafi school of law, drew a very broad framework for the velâyet-i icbâr, which provided the basis of many teen marriages in the Ottoman history. In this regard, this article presents a useful case study to the Ottoman practices of teen marriage. The paper examines the story of Nesibe, a thirteen-years-old girl, who had been married off twice by her elders, and analyzes the subsequent complaints made by petitions to the Ottoman police department. The issue is traced from the official correspondence between Ottoman administrative institutions. Relevant documents are located in the President's Ottoman Archives in the Council of State section by the 782nd file and 26th cover comprising eleven documents in total. Teen marriage is the subject of religious studies because of its direct relation to Islamic law and social history of the Ottoman Empire. The question of teen marriage has already been the subject of detailed discussion among the jurisprudential corpora and books. For instance, the texts on teen marriage constitute a great extend among the published works of Islamic jurisprudence such as "Ahkâmu'l-Tıfl" (Regulations on Minors) and demonstrates the significant relevance of the topic for religious studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary aim of this paper is to provide fresh evidence by testing the linkage between renewable energy consumption, financial development, and external debts in Turkey, using the Bootstrap ARDL test (McNown et al. 2018). The Bootstrap ARDL test is desired over traditional co-integration tests due to its ability to predict when resolving power and size limitation issues, and its corresponding features, which have not been addressed by traditional co-integration tests. The ARDL testing model is employed to investigate the coefficients amongst the selected variables. The findings from the ARDL test illustrate that there is a positive linkage between renewable consumption and Turkey's financial development. Furthermore, the outcomes illustrate that the coefficient of external debt is negative and significant. The results indicate that policymakers in Turkey must use the growth of the financial sector to minimize environmental degradation by promoting investment in energy and production through renewable energy sources. Furthermore, the research suggested that Turkey's policy-makers should reformulate the external debt policy to reduce the negative influence of external debt on sustainable energy development. This could potentially be achieved by removing any restrictions on international capital flow or barriers on foreign capital and foreign investment. Hence, the findings of this paper provide valuable conclusions and recommendations for Turkey heading to sustainable and green financial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]