ABSTRACT
The present research aimed to reveal how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the mathematical reasoning of primary school students through mediation analysis. It was designed as ex post facto research. The research sample consisted of two cohorts. Cohort 1 included 415 primary school children who received face-to-face instruction by attending school for six months until COVID-19 emerged. Cohort 2 included 964 children who were taught curricular skills through distance education due to COVID-19 and school closures. In total, 1,379 primary school children were recruited into the research sample. Data were collected through a mathematical reasoning test by sending items from the instrument via Google Docs. The data were analysed with mediation analysis. Results demonstrated that the school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic negatively influenced mathematical reasoning skills. Findings are discussed in the light of human interaction and Cattell’s intelligence theory. © 2022, Kerem Coskun and Cihan Kara.
ABSTRACT
This article is about Nallihan needle lace as a cultural element. The problem examined in this article is how Nallihan needle lace, which is not directly included in the official heritage list, is turned into a heritage element and a valuable commercial product by tradition bearers and various professionals. Needle lace, which is a kind of knitting made with needles, has been an important part of traditional clothing and decoration from pest to present. However, it is observed that there is a change in needle lace depending on the changes in the social and economic structure. In order to understand this change, we approached Nallihan needle lace within the framework of a triple cultural form model consisting of innovation, normative culture (habitus/normative culture) and cultural heritage. In this context, in the process that moves needle lace from a pre-heritage cultural form to being labeled as a heritage;we discussed and described the lace in terms of the actors, meaning, value and function attributed to the embroidery, the policies, practices, the consciousness and awareness of the heritage as well as the changes in the cultural and social structure. We obtained a significant part of the data used in the article through field work. The current Covid-19 pandemic has led to hybridization in our research techniques. For this reason, we held our inteviews in Ankara and Nallihan between 2020-2021, sometimes face-to-face and sometimes over the phone. As a result, we have determined that Nallihan needle lace has risen from normative culture to cultural heritage level with high awareness, that tourism especially functions as a tool in this process and it is important to redesign needle lace with a creative/entrepreneurial perspective.
ABSTRACT
Background: COVID-19 has heterogeneous manifestations, though one of the most common symptoms is a sudden loss of smell (anosmia or hyposmia). We investigated whether olfactory loss is a reliable predictor of COVID-19. Methods: This preregistered, cross-sectional study used a crowdsourced questionnaire in 23 languages to assess symptoms in individuals self-reporting recent respiratory illness. We quantified changes in chemosensory abilities during the course of the respiratory illness using 0-100 visual analog scales (VAS) for participants reporting a positive (C19+; n=4148) or negative (C19-; n=546) COVID-19 laboratory test outcome. Logistic regression models identified singular and cumulative predictors of COVID-19 status and post-COVID-19 olfactory recovery. Results: Both C19+ and C19- groups exhibited smell loss, but it was significantly larger in C19+ participants (mean{+/-}SD, C19+: -82.5{+/-}27.2 points; C19-: -59.8{+/-}37.7). Smell loss during illness was the best predictor of COVID-19 in both single and cumulative feature models (ROC AUC=0.72), with additional features providing no significant model improvement. VAS ratings of smell loss were more predictive than binary chemosensory yes/no-questions or other cardinal symptoms, such as fever or cough. Olfactory recovery within 40 days was reported for ~50% of participants and was best predicted by time since illness onset. Conclusions: As smell loss is the best predictor of COVID-19, we developed the ODoR-19 tool, a 0-10 scale to screen for recent olfactory loss. Numeric ratings [≤]2 indicate high odds of symptomatic COVID-19 (10