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"Development" is a kind of growth that leads to the transformation of social and official organisms including innovation in cultural values, worldview, and consumption and behaviour patterns. Accordingly, development is a living organism as indicated by developments in many fields such as economics, science, art, sports, education, democracy, and freedom to improve prosperity. Since development begins with innovation in human resources and national development processes depends on regional and urban development, education, and educational institutes can be accepted as one of the initiatives and accelerative factors of development. Therefore, the role of city universities is important in the development of cities and countries. The purpose of this study is to determine the contribution of four major universities in Ankara to the social, cultural, and economic development of the city. The data were collected by a structured questionnaire, which was developed by the researchers to be used in interviewing with vice rectors of these four universities. Three of those vice rectors are from state universities, and one of them is from a private university. The qualitative data were analyzed by descriptive analysis. On the basis of results, it is concluded that universities in Ankara play their "third mission" by contributing to the development of their surroundings.

Reading and writing have an essential place in the social life of individuals as well as in school learning. In this study, bidirectional relationships between reading and writing skills have been examined after gender and socio-economic level of students have been controlled. The participants in this study were 240 fifth-grade students from 10 primary schools in four different districts of Ankara in Turkey. A text was chosen to evaluate students' comprehension and writing skills, and an achivement test that includes questions relating to the text was developed. Analytic and holistic rubrics were used to evaluate the students' reading and writing skills. Hierarchial multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to reveal the bidirectional relationship between reading and writing skills. The results indicated that reading and writing skills are important predictors of each other andsupport the possibility of a bidirectional relationship between two variables. One possible explanation for this is that reading and writing skills influence each other. Researchers, practitioners, and parents may need to target both reading and writing skills to best help poor readers become proficient.

Mathematical knowledge and skills are needed to find solutions to the problems encountered in daily life. Although individuals are given the opportunity to receive equal education, it is seen that there are differences in the achievement of individuals. Individual-based factors can affect the achievement of individuals. One of the most important of these individual-based factors is the gender factor. It is important to examine the reasons behind the items of mathematics test showing the Differential Item Functioning (DIF) by gender. In this research, the interaction of gender and intrinsic motivation, instrumental motivation, self-efficacy, and anxiety variables on mathematics test items was examined in terms of DIF to understand the reasons of gender differences in the mathematical achievement of students who participated in PISA 2012. The study group of this research constituted 1084 students who participated in the application in Turkey, who answered booklets 3, 5 and 11 in the PISA 2012 mathematics literacy test. The data was analyzed by Iterative Hybrid Ordinal Logistic Regression (IHOLR) in the Lordif package program and Rasch Tree Method (RTM) in Psychotree package program and items showing DIF according to gender were determined. According to the findings, some mathematics test items showed DIF according to gender. It was found that items also showed DIF according to gender and intrinsic motivation interaction, and gender and self-efficacy interaction. It was observed that status of items showing DIF changed according to a certain threshold value of the girls' intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy score. It was found that mathematics items did not show DIF according to gender and instrumental motivation interaction, and gender and anxiety interaction. As a result, it was observed that status of items showing DIF according to gender could change according to gender and affective characteristics interaction.

In this study, gain score, and categorical growth models were used to examine the role of student (gender and socioeconomic level) and school characteristics (school size and school resources) in the student growth on comprehension skills in language. The participants of this study were 2,416 sixth-grade students in 2011 who became seventh-grade students in 2012. The data was collected through two achievement tests, student and school questionnaires. Two achievement tests were calibrated using the Rasch Model and were scaled using the concurrent estimation method. Moreover, the cut-off scores of these tests were determined by using the bookmark method. Students' growth was modelled with the gain score and categorical growth models. All data was analyzed using multilevel models. Results showed that some students did not achieve sufficient gains to advance to higher performance levels. Although some schools' average gains were higher, their performance was still not significant enough in terms of tests' standards. Moreover, the analyses demonstrated that the student gain scores and growth categories varied significantly among the schools. In addition, the study was able to determine student and school characteristics that have an impact on the students' gain scores and categorical growth. Given the different aspects gained about students' performance with these models, it is recommended to utilize different growth models in schools.

This study aims to determine whether items in the Ankara University Examination for Foreign Students Basic Learning Skills Test function differently according to country and gender using the Recursive Partitioning Analysis in the Rasch Model. The variables used in the recursive partitioning of the data are country and gender. The population of the study is composed of 2476 individuals. Since the study includes comparisons across countries, the country is accepted as a criterion in determining the sample group. Thus, the sample of the study consists of 615 individuals selected from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, and Syria. To investigate differential item functioning (DIF) of the items of the test, the Rasch tree method was used. As a result of the analysis, DIF has been detected in 16 items at the 0.001 significance level. However, these items have been identified to have similar difficulty parameters in all countries. Finally, items have not shown DIF according to gender.

This study aimed to compare different mediation analysis methods (BK, Sobel, and bootstrapping) based on single mediation models for groups of different sizes. For this purpose, the PISA 2012 data for Turkey were used. In order to compare the mediation analysis methods, 4,848 students from Turkey that participated in PISA 2012 were divided into sample groups of 100, 200, 500 and 1,000 individuals. Among the mediation analysis methods discussed within the scope of the research, the BK method was implemented assisted by a regression analysis while for the remaining two methods, SPSS macros were utilized. For the analysis, syntax files were created to be run on SPSS. The results of the analysis of single mediation models revealed that the mathematics anxiety variable mediated the relationship between classroom climate and mathematical literacy. According to the analyses based on all three methods, it was observed that the standard error value increased as the sample group became smaller. Although the standard errors of the Sobel test and bootstrap method were close to each other in large study groups, the former produced less erroneous results in large samples whereas the latter yielded more reliable results in smaller samples.

No matter how strong the theoretical infrastructure of a study is, if the measurement instruments do not have the necessary psychometric qualities, there will be a question of trust in interpreting the findings, and it will be inevitable to make wrong decisions with the results. One of the important steps in scale development/adaptation studies is to provide evidence of the experimental validity. In order to reveal evidence of construct validity of Likert type scales, to identify factor structures, to confirm previously predicted structures, factor analysis is used. The primary issue to be examined is the level of measurement of the variable and one of the leading decisions that must be taken is which relation matrix will be used. This descriptive research is based on the effects of using Pearson or polychoric correlation matrix in the factor analysis. It is determined that items showed different "item-total correlations", "loading values" and "correlation coefficients", different factor numbers emerged, different items were removed out of the scale, confirmation status of the structure has changed.

The study aimed to identify the students' characteristics (perception of self-efficacy, resistance, persistence, taking responsibility and competence for their cognitive processes) that might affect the response behaviors of fifth grade students for open ended questions written in different cognitive levels. This study was designed as relational survey model research. Sample consisted of 392 5th grade students selected by purposeful sampling from Yenimahalle, Mamak and Cankaya districts in Ankara city. Data was collected with reading comprehension achievement test, response behaviors form and student information survey. Analysis was conducted with 366 students' data after missing values were removed. MPlus package program was utilized to analyze data and structural equation modelling was used. The findings of the research revealed that response behaviors for open ended questions written in different cognitive levels in Turkish learning area were found to be predicted low and at a significant level by students' perception of self-efficacy, persistence, resistance, taking responsibility and cognitive skills. It might be concluded that improving children's perception for cognitive and metacognitive skills can enhance their thinking process, lead them to perform complex response behaviors and affect positively their higher order thinking process. In other words, students with high cognitive and metacognitive skills show higher level response behaviors such as putting themselves into author's shoes, relating their own life to the event in the text or using imagination. Therefore, they can comprehend what they read easily and express it back.

The term of 21st century skills has become a key concept in the field of education. It has attracted researchers' attentions and included in some of the cognitive taxonomies used in the fields of curriculum development and educational assessment. In the 21st century, the teaching curriculum and instruction have started to transform in a way consistent with the change of the targeted competences that an educated person should have. This requires classroom assessment applications to change so that they can be in line with the nature of these competences and support their development. This study discusses the skills that have gained importance in the 21st century education (21st century skills), the interaction between these skills and the classroom assessment, and the transformation of assessment activities to cover these skills. The study also includes one sample assessment activity and rubrics that are developed by the researchers in order to guide teachers how to include these skills in their daily teaching plan and how to assess them.

The purpose of this study is to improve students' knowledge and awareness regarding the scale of pollution that has engulfed the Istanbul Strait as well as the general threats faced by the ecosystem. Towards this end, 2310 1-12 grade students were sampled from schools in Istanbul to serve as study participants. To collect the research data, two different instruments namely Personal Information Questionnaire and Information Tests developed by the researchers were used. When the data collected with the questionnaire was examined, it was observed that students' knowledge concerning marine pollution generally came from their teachers and the Internet. Students who took most information from the Internet were those in the high school. The least source of information to students however was civil society organizations. With respect to the courses at school, the students reported taking most information regarding pollution of the sea from their science and social studies' textbooks. When it comes to the results obtained using the tests administered, it was observed that the average scores for posttest were higher than the average scores for pretest across all the levels. In order to examine whether or not the difference between the posttest average scores and the pretest average scores is significant, a t-test analysis was performed; and the results revealed that across all the levels, the differences observed between the average scores for posttest and pretest are significant. These findings and results provide concrete supports for the success of the educational training implemented in the study.

In this study, the predictive roles of intrinsic and instrumental motivations, science self-efficacy on success in the lower and upper quartiles of score distribution are analyzed in scientific domain of PISA 2015 Turkey sample. Since their index values cannot be calculated due to missing values, some students are excluded from the sample and the study sample is comprised of 5287 students. Regression models in which intrinsic and instrumental motivation, science self-efficacy are predictive variables and success is response variable are formed for the lower and upper quartiles of score distribution of science literacy. Models are analyzed by quantile regression analysis. It is found that self-efficacy in science, intrinsic and instrumental motivations towards science are significant predictors of science success. The predictive roles of science self-efficacy and intrinsic motivation towards science are much more effective in the upper quartile of score distribution than the lower quartile. Instrumental motivation has significant relationship with science success only in the lowest and highest 10th percentages. Based on these results, suggestions are made both for researchers and teachers regarding the classroom activities, assessment processes and possible future studies that might be conducted related with the success and motivation of the students.

Terra firma-forme dermatosis is a relatively common but probably underestimated entity characterized by asymptomatic cutaneous pigmentation resembling dirty skin. Dermoscopy is a non-invasive diagnostic tool used in the diagnosis of many cutaneous conditions. In this study we aimed to reveal dermoscopic patterns of the entity. A total of 10 patients diagnosed with terra firma-forme dermatosis were enrolled. The most common dermoscopic pattern was polygonal brown clods arranged in a mosaic pattern (N=7). The other patterns observed were seborrheic keratosis-like pattern (N=2) and perifollicular hyperpigmentation (N=1). Rubbing with 70% ethyl alcohol resulted in complete resolution of the lesions in all patients.

Amyloidosis cutis dyschromica (ACD) is a rare form of primary cutaneous amyloidosis. ACD, first described by Morishima in 1970 is characterized by (i) macular, speckled, reticular hyperpigmentation with hypopigmented spots distributed extensively over the body; (ii) little or no pruritus; (iii) prepubertal onset; and (iv) focal subepidermal amyloid deposition. A 49-year-old woman presented with a 20-year history of progressive, asymptomatic, generalized mottled hyper- and hypopigmented macules all over the body. Histopathological examination of a punch biopsy specimen showed deposition of homogeneous, eosinophilic material in the papillary dermis. This amorphous, eosinophilic material was stained metachromatically with crystal violet stain and found to be compatible with amyloid. Based on the clinical and histopathological findings, the patient was diagnosed as having ACD. Amyloidosis cutis dyschromica must be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with diffuse dyschromatosis including both hyperpigmented and hypopigmented lesions and histopathological confirmation is necessary in order to reach a correct diagnosis.

Copyright of Education & Science / Egitim ve Bilim is the property of Turkish Education Association and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Buca Faculty of Education Journal / Buca Egitim Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Buca Faculty of Education Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper examines listening comprehension skills of visually impaired students (VIS) using computerised adaptive testing (CAT) and reader-assisted paper-pencil testing (raPPT) and student views about them. Explanatory mixed method design was used in this study. Sample is comprised of 51 VIS, in 7th and 8th grades. 9 of these students were interviewed for determining student views about tests. Results indicated that scores obtained from CAT are significantly lower than scores obtained from raPPT. Additionally, a positive and high correlation was found between scores of CAT and raPPT. This result suggests that similar ability estimations were made by CAT and raPPT. Another finding is CAT made more reliable predictions, and was completed in shorter duration using fewer items. In qualitative part, student views were gathered through interviews and content analysis revealed three themes as technical features, test features, and psychological effects. In general, students reported positive views about CAT. VIS prefer CAT due to its listening/control options, shorter test durations, clarity of reading, and fairness of test, elimination of dependency to reader. Study provides implications for test developers and test-users to consider CAT as a multi-accommodation for VIS through its advantages.

Byline: Melek. Kayiran, Ayse. Karadag, Gökçen. Alyamaç, Bengü. Cemil, Düriye. Demirseren, Yuhanize. Demircan, Hasan. Aksoy, Sevilay. Kiliç, Esma. Yüksel, Göknur. Kalkan, Sema. Aksaç, Ömer. Kutlu, Sümeyye. Kaksi, Aysun. Aktürk, Sezgi. [...]

Introduction: The purpose of our study was to evaluate reliability of 68Ga-labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography (68Ga-PSMA PET/CT) and identify appropriate SUVmax cutoff values in order to use for diagnosis, especially in patients remained clinically suspicious for prostate cancer (PCa). Methods: Eighty-four patients applied 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT subsequent to transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUS-bx) involved in this study retrospectively. 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT imagings were analyzed by a nuclear medicine physician, and region of interests were drawn manually in prostate diagrams including 6 segments for each patient. These marked diagrams were analyzed with histopathology reports TRUS-bx. 504 segments were grouped with Gleason scoring system, and all groups were compared with mean SUVmax values. Results: Mean SUVmax value of Gleason grade group 1 (GG1, n: 352 segments) was 6.6 (±4.6) and significantly lower than the other groups (p < 0.001). No significant difference was detected within GG2–5 groups (p > 0.05). According to receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, SUVmax cutoff values were 1.0 (AUC: 0.961) for tumor detection, yielding a sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value of 99.4%, 92.1%, 96.5%, 98%, respectively, and 4.2 (AUC: 0.853) for detection of clinically significant PCa with 88.8%, 62.4%, 84.5%, and 71%, respectively. Although tumor percentage of biopsy core and Gleason group were correlated with SUVmax uptake, but patient age was not. Conclusion: 68Ga-PSMA PET appears to be a reliable option for diagnosis and disease management in PCa and can be considered especially in discrimination of csPCa, and patients remained suspicious for disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: There is no consensus on the operative method for ingrown nail treatment. The aim of this study was to compare the Winograd method and chemical matricectomy with sodium hydroxide in the treatment of ingrown big toenails. Material and Methods: 31 patients with chemical matricectomy with sodium hydroxide and 29 patients with the Winograd method were analyzed retrospectively. The two groups were compared in terms of intraoperative pain, the need for local anesthesia, patient satisfaction, Dermatology Life Quality Index, recurrence, and complication rates. Results: The mean intraoperative pain scores in groups chemical matricectomy and Winograd were 0.54±0.96 and 3.86±1.43, respectively (p=0.001). The recurrence rates were similar between the two groups (p=1.000). The number of satisfied and very satisfied patients at the last follow-up was respectively 31 (100%), in chemical matricectomy and 26 (89.65%) in Winograd group. The chemical matricectomy had a significantly rapid return time to school or work (day) (p<0.001). A statistically significantly negative correlation was found between preoperative Dermatological Quality of Life Index (DLQI) and post-operative satisfaction level (r=-0.312, p=0.024). Conclusion: Chemical matricectomy with sodium hydroxide and Winograd methods are both effective and reliable treatment methods in the treatment of ingrown toenails. Less intraoperative pain, the use of anesthetic agents, and rapid return time to school or work (day) may be an advantage of chemical matricectomy with sodium hydroxide. DLQI score before the procedures may give a clue for predicting satisfaction levels after ingrown nail procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Yüzüncü Yıl University, Faculty of Education is the property of Yuzuncu Yil University, Faculty of Education and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)