Comparison of the Universities in Turkey with Multidimensional Scaling Analysis

Higher education institutions are among the keystones of a country. Besides being the primary institutions of a country that expand overseas, universities are the most important organizations representing it at the international level. It is an undeniable fact that a university benefits the country in which it is located in many ways. It is crucial to examine the performances of universities, which are among the major drivers of global change. As such, the positions of the Turkish universities during the 2008–2009 and 2018–2019 periods were examined by multidimensional scaling analysis. Especially the change in the positions of the recently-opened universities and their proximity or distance to the established universities constitute the primary focus of this study. The universities in Turkey were analyzed through multidimensional scaling analysis by using the variables of the number of students at associate and undergraduate level, the number of academic staff, the number of doctoral students, the total number of publications, and the number of graduate students. No significant difference was found between the positions of the universities that were opened under the policy of “one university for each city”.

Does the real estate market behavior predict the trust crisis in the financial sector? The case of the ECB and the Euro

Research background: Based on the history of financial crises, real estate market behavior could be thought of as a key benchmark of trust shifts in the financial sector of the economy. Plunging real estate asset prices accompanied by the financial "bubbles" explosion could be viewed as the harbinger ? even the cause ? of the public trust crash in the financial sector. Purpose of the article: This study intends to assess the extent to which the real estate market behavior determinants, along with financial sector consumers' feelings, are able to predict trust crises in the financial sector, namely to its primary institutions ? European Central Bank and the Euro. Methods: In order to estimate the probability of a trust crisis in the financial sector, two logistic regression logit models were developed based on two types of dependent variables as they reflect trust violations in the financial system primary institutions ? net trust in European Central Bank (Model I) and net support for the Euro (Model II). The research was conducted on quarterly panel data of the EU countries from the euro area covering the period from 2000 to 2019. Logit regressions employed for data processing and analysis were performed in the computational system STATISTICA. Findings & value added: The logit-modeling results show that determinants of irrational real estate buyers' behavior are powerless in predicting the escalation of the trust crisis in the Euro. However, binary models of real estate market behavior could be successfully used to predict the probability of the trust crisis in the European Central Bank. The results show that real house price indices, price to income ratio, price to rent ratio, and rent prices accompanied by the financial sector consumers' feelings are statistically significant, providing the best distribution between the normal times and periods of trust crisis in the European Central Bank. Irrational real estate market behavior may indicate serious problems in the trust violations in the European Central Bank, and it should be a signal for policymakers to take actions towards more efficient financial and real estate market regulation following the behavioral approach.

Diagnostic Errors in Initial Misdiagnosis of Foreign Body Aspiration in Children: A Retrospective Observational Study in a Tertiary Care Hospital in China

Background: Foreign body aspiration (FBA) in children is a common emergency that can easily be missed, leading to delays in treatment. Few large cohort studies have focused on errors in diagnostic assessment. The main purpose of this study was to analyze factors contributing to the initial misdiagnosis of FBA in children.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of 226 children diagnosed with FBA at the Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University from January 2018 to November 2020. Cases were divided into two groups according to whether or not patients were initially misdiagnosed. The clinical characteristics of the two groups were then compared. The Diagnosis Error Evaluation and Research (DEER) taxonomy tool was applied to cases with initial misdiagnosis.Results: Of the 226 included children with a final diagnosis of FBA, 153 (67.7%) were boys. Ninety percent of patients were under 3 years old. More than half (61.9%) of the children were referred from primary institutions, and 38.1% visited tertiary hospitals directly. A total of 80 (35.4%) patients were initially misdiagnosed. More than half of misdiagnosed children received an alternative diagnosis of bronchiolitis (51.3%), the most common alternative diagnosis. Test failures (i.e., errors in test ordering, test performance, and clinician processing) were primarily responsible for the majority of initial diagnostic errors (76.3%), followed by failure or delay in eliciting critical case history information (20.0%). Characteristics significantly associated with initial misdiagnosis were: presentation over 24 h (OR 9.2, 95% CI 4.8–17.5), being referred from primary institutions (OR 8.8, 4.1–19.0), no witnessed aspiration crisis (OR 7.8, 3.0–20.3), (4) atypical signs or symptoms (OR 3.2, 1.8–5.7), foreign body not visible on CT (OR 36.2, 2.1–636.8), foreign body located in secondary bronchi (OR 4.8, 1.3–17.2), organic foreign body (OR 6.2, 1.4–27.2), and history of recurrent respiratory infections (OR 2.7, 1.4–5.3). Children with misdiagnosis tended to have a longer time from symptom onset to the definitive diagnosis of FBA (P < 0.001).Conclusions: More than one-third of children with FBA were missed at first presentation. Errors in diagnostic testing and history taking were the main reasons leading to initial misdiagnosis.

Effect of National Basic Public Health Services On The Health of Internal Migrants in China

Objective This paper evaluates the effect of National Basic Public Health Services (NBPHS) on the health of internal migrants in China. Study design: The study design used in this research is a cross-sectional study. Methods Data were obtained from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) of 2017, including 150,384 internal migrants at the age of 15–59. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to estimate the effect of NBPHS. Results The findings indicate that NBPHS is successful in improving the health of internal migrants. Different matching algorithms showed the improvement ranging from 2.7 to 2.9 percentage points for the indicator of self-reported health, compared with the reduction of the probability of having disease ranging from 3.3 to 3.7 percentage points in the past year. However, gains are not shared equally. Heterogeneity analysis found significant improvement in the health of patients with hypertension, but the health improvement of diabetics was relatively small. There was also no significant effect on patients with both hypertension and diabetes. Similarly, less improvement was observed in those over 65 years old. Conclusions This research suggests that policymakers should not only pay attention to the equalization of project implementation but also focus on narrowing the benefits gap between different groups of internal migrants. This finding highlights the importance of encouraging more young doctors to provide health services in primary institutions and promoting the sinking of high-quality medical resources.

States, interstitial organizations and the prospects for liberal international order

This article proposes a complementary approach to analysing destabilization of the liberal international order (LIO) and argues that such challenges are related to endogenous institutional processes within the LIO. Faced with constraints of the core norms, rules and institutions of the LIO, states use interstitial organizations (INTOs)—new organizational forms recombining resources, rules, practices and structures from multiple institutional domains—allowing for innovative ways of delivering foreign policies. Using organization theory and new institutionalist approaches, the article outlines a three-dimensional analytical framework to the study of emergence of interstitial organizational forms and interstitial institutional change of international institutions. It applies this framework to the study of two types of INTOs—the European External Action Service (EEAS) and private military companies (PMCs)—both of which are shown to have transformational impacts on two core primary institutions of the modern state order, namely diplomacy and war. The article argues that reliance on INTOs can both enhance and constrain states' ability to promote the core principles of the LIO and concludes with a discussion of two possible paths of adaptation of this order.

The Institutions of International Society

The “fundamental” or “primary” institutions of international society, among them sovereignty, diplomacy, international law, great power management, the balance of power, trade, and environmental stewardship, have been eagerly discussed and researched in the discipline of international relations (IR), at the theoretical, meta-theoretical, and empirical levels. Generations of scholars associated with not only the English School, but also liberalism and constructivism, have engaged with the “institutions of international society,” as they were originally called by Martin Wight and Hedley Bull in their attempt to develop a historically and sociologically informed theory of international relations. The fact that intense historical, theoretical, and empirical investigations have uncovered new institutional layers, dynamics, and complexities, and thus opened new challenging questions rather than settling the matter is part of its attraction. In the 1960s and 1970s, the early exponents of the English School theorized fundamental institutions as historical pillars of contemporary international society and its element of order. At the turn of the 21st century, this work was picked up by Kal Holsti and Barry Buzan, who initiated a renaissance of English School institutionalism, which specified the institutional levels of international society and discussed possibilities for institutional change. Meanwhile, liberal and constructivist scholars made important contributions on fundamental institutions in key engagements with English School theory on the subject in the late 1980s. These contributions and engagements have informed the most recent wave of (interdisciplinary) scholarship on the subject, which has theorized the room for fundamental institutional change and the role of international organizations in relation to the fundamental institutions of international society.

CHALLENGES EXPERIENCED IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SPECIAL NEEDS EDUCATION POLICY IN KENYA AND THE CURRENT STATUS IN THE COMPETENCE BASED CURRICULUM .

The Kenya Special Needs Education Policy Framework 2009 provided a legal framework that was relevant and guided the provision of Special Needs Education in Kenya. The implementation of the policy has seen Kenya achieve many milestones including increased enrolment, which rose from 22,000 learners in 1999 to 108,221 in 290 special primary institutions and 2057 Special units/integrated programmes (MOE 2018).

Mistreatment by patients: An analysis of the patient-related social stressors among Slovenian healthcare workers

Introduction Healthcare workers (HCWs) are often exposed to mistreatment by patients, which has negative effects on both staff and institutions. To take appropriate action to help HCWs in this context, patient-related social stressors (PSS) should be explored. The purpose of the research was to identify the most pronounced patient behaviour contributing to the social stress (SS) of HCWs, and compare PSS between different HCWs and different types of healthcare institutions. Methods 750 HCWs from Slovenian public health centres and hospitals participated in the online survey. Although the non-probability sampling was used, the sample was representative according to gender and HCW type (doctors, nurses and other HCWs). Results The results show that the most pronounced patient behaviour contributing to the SS of HCWs are attitudes and behaviour of patients that are challenging in terms of what is – from the HCWs’ point of view – considered as acceptable and reasonable (disproportionate patient expectations), and unpleasant, humourless, and hostile patients. HCWs in primary institutions meet less verbally aggressive and unpleasant patients than in tertiary ones. Although among all HCWs less educated ones are more exposed to inappropriate behaviour, doctors are those HCWs who experience more inappropriate behaviour. Conclusion Managers should enable HCWs to get comprehensive patient service training, oriented towards improving relationship management and patient-HCW relationships.

The Role of Abadina Media Resource Centre in Bringing Novelty and Creativity to School Library Services in Nigeria

This article looks into the role of Abadina Media Resource Centre in expanding school library services in Nigeria. The article revealed the novelty seen in the functions of the Centre especially in the training of qualified personnel for the positions of teacher-librarians, media specialists, reading teachers and other school media personnel in pre-primary, primary and post-primary institutions in Nigeria and organizing of programmes relevant to reading and library use for Nigerian Children. In addition, core activities of the Centre were highlighted and challenges facing the school library media centre were also discussed. Abadina Media ResourceCentre has developed training programmes to produce qualified personnel that will run virile school media programmes in Nigerian schools, teach school media and conduct scientific and reliable researches to extend the frontiers of knowledge in the field.

Football's contribution to international order: the ludic and festive reproduction of international society by world societal actors

In the English School, the relationship between international and world society has recently received increasing attention – conceptually and empirically. Adding to this developing literature, we study how world societal actors not only serve as normative counterpoints to international society or function as norm-entrepreneurs, but decisively contribute to its reproduction. Going beyond the common preoccupation with actor types, we focus on practices that are performed on the international stage. We examine the role which world sport events, especially FIFA's World Cup and the infrastructure of football, play for international society. Building on Wight, we conceptualize world sport events as a (world societal actor driven) derivative primary institution of international society, which is embedded within the particularly hybrid master primary institution of sites and festivals. We find that world sport events allow for the ludic and festive reproduction of key primary institutions (like sovereignty, territoriality, and nationalism), while they highlight how members of international society compete on the basis of shared norms and values. Naturalizing world order as international order, they make international society emotionally experienceable as feasible and desirable at a global level. In performing world sport events, world societal actors uphold rather than challenge international society.