Resilience in higher education settings during the COVID-19 pandemic:A scoping literature review with implications for policy and practice

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the construct of resilience has received growing attention in the higher education literature. The pandemic, acting as an external stressor, impacted multiple higher educational settings in 2020 during the period of lockdowns, when universities had to temporarily close on-campus activities and shift to online emergency responses. The objective of this scoping review is to explore how resilience was conceptualized in the higher education research literature during the initial emergency response phase of the pandemic, and how conceptual and research design choices in this early body of literature shaped policy recommendations aimed at enhancing resilience of individuals and support systems in higher education settings. This article, thus, contributes to the ongoing discussion in the academic and policy-relevant literature on how to better prepare universities as organizations and communities for a response not only during the emergency pandem ic, but also beyond in post-pandemic higher education settings. In particular, the paper examines five related questions, as pertaining to the early literature on the university emergency response in higher education: 1) how, and at which levels (i.e. individual, community, organization, system) was resilience conceptualized, 2) what types of research questions on resilience were being explored in this literature (i.e. determinants of resilience, or impacts of resilience), 3) how, and via which instruments, resilience was measured, 4) which factors were found to be facilitative for resilience, and 5) which factors were found to be impacts of resilience. The article synthesizes the findings of the early literature on resilience in higher education during the pandemic emergency response, and discusses important areas for further academic research, highlighting the implications for relevant support policies and interventions

Resilience in higher education settings during the COVID-19 pandemic:A scoping literature review with implications for policy and practice

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the construct of resilience has received growing attention in the higher education literature. The pandemic, acting as an external stressor, impacted multiple higher educational settings in 2020 during the period of lockdowns, when universities had to temporarily close on-campus activities and shift to online emergency responses. The objective of this scoping review is to explore how resilience was conceptualized in the higher education research literature during the initial emergency response phase of the pandemic, and how conceptual and research design choices in this early body of literature shaped policy recommendations aimed at enhancing resilience of individuals and support systems in higher education settings. This article, thus, contributes to the ongoing discussion in the academic and policy-relevant literature on how to better prepare universities as organizations and communities for a response not only during the emergency pandem ic, but also beyond in post-pandemic higher education settings. In particular, the paper examines five related questions, as pertaining to the early literature on the university emergency response in higher education: 1) how, and at which levels (i.e. individual, community, organization, system) was resilience conceptualized, 2) what types of research questions on resilience were being explored in this literature (i.e. determinants of resilience, or impacts of resilience), 3) how, and via which instruments, resilience was measured, 4) which factors were found to be facilitative for resilience, and 5) which factors were found to be impacts of resilience. The article synthesizes the findings of the early literature on resilience in higher education during the pandemic emergency response, and discusses important areas for further academic research, highlighting the implications for relevant support policies and interventions

Can internet infrastructure help reduce regional disparities? : evidence from Turkey

This study presents novel evidence regarding the role of regional internet infrastructure in reducing regional per capita income disparities. We base our study on the assumptions that (1) the diffusion of information homogenizes regional economies through reducing the dissimilarities in institutions and culture, and (2) the telecommunication capacity, represented as the internet infrastructure of a region, facilitates this flow of information. Using the data from the 26 statistical regions of Turkey, we find evidence that internet infrastructure has contributed to regional convergence during the period 1999-2011. We also observe that the Turkish economic geography is defined by a strong core-periphery pattern and significant spatial clustering

Does too much work hamper innovation? Evidence for diminishing returns of work hours for patent grants

This study suggests that individual time is an important factor that needs to be considered in innovation research. We define two types of time: work time and free time. We find that work time has a positive but diminishing effect on innovative output such that after a certain point the innovation-enhancing role of work time is taken over by individual free time. Using a sample of OECD countries and Russia, we estimate a quadratic relationship between work time and per capita innovative output. For a hypothetical economy that has no other holidays but weekends, we estimate that individuals should not work more than about 6.6 hours a day for maximizing innovative output. We also present a categorization of countries based on their innovative output and work hours that may kindle interest for certain case-specific future research

ASSOCIATION OF BDNF / TRKB AND NGF / TRKA LEVELS IN POSTMORTEM BRAIN WITH MAJOR DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE

Background: Suicide Attempts are the main complications of Major Depressive Episodes and are difficult to predict. There is still a lack of knowledge about its neurochemical aspects. There is increasing evidence that Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and Nerve growth factor (NGF) play a role in the pathophysiology and treatment of depression by binding and activating cognate receptors Tyrosine Kinase B (TrkB) and Tyrosie Kinase A (TrkA), respectively. This study was conducted to examine whether BDNF and / or TrkB as well as NGF and / or TrkA expression profiles were changed in the hippocampus of postmortem brain of individuals with depression who committed suicide. Subjects and methods: This study was conducted with the brain tissue of 61 victims who died as a result of suicide due to depression and 25 people who died due to traffic accidents. The psychiatric history of the cases was determined by the psychological autopsy method. Samples were taken from the hippocampus region of the brain at the forensic medicine institution. After storage under appropriate conditions, protein and mRNA levels of BDNF, TrkB, NGF and TrkA were determined in the genetics laboratory. Results: Average age of the suicide group was 30 and the average age of the control group was 24.5. The suicide group consisted of 70.5% male and 29.5% female cases. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of age (p=0.062) and gender (p=0.718). BDNF, NGF, TrkA and TrkB values were found to be lower in the suicide group compared to the control group and there was a significant difference between the groups (p=<0.001; p=0.001; p=0.001; p=0.011). Conclusion: Given the importance of BDNF and NGF and their cognate receptors in mediating physiological functions, including cell survival and synaptic plasticity, our findings regarding decreased expression of BDNF, TrkB, NGF and TrkA in both protein and mRNA levels of postmortem brains of suicide victims suggests that it may play an important role in the pathophysiological aspects of its behavior. Further studies in this context may be useful both in understanding the molecular basis of suicide and in designing therapeutic models targeting these molecular pathways

Public investment and regional politics: The case of Turkey

The determinants of the regional allocation of transportation and communication investments are analysed for the twenty-six statistical regions of Turkey for the years 1999 through 2011. A unique regional GVA series covering this period is constructed for this purpose. We specifically account for the possibility of dependence between allocation decisions for different infrastructure types. Estimation results strongly suggest that political bias has been present in the allocation decisions of regional transportation and communication public investments in Turkey. Keywords: Public Infrastructure; Regional Policy; Investment Allocation

A rare case of fatal venous and cerebral air embolism

A venous air embolism can occur as a result of circumstances that include blunt head or chest trauma, thoracentesis, arterial catheterization, neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, and Caisson disease. The formation of a venous air embolism requires an air source, interaction between the air source and the vessel, and a pressure gradient supporting air migration into the vessel. Air enters through the impaired venous structure and travels to the right side of the heart and the pulmonary arteries, and depending on the amount of air, may occasionally be fatal. This report is the description of the case of a 3-year-old child who developed a fatal venous and cerebral embolism during neurosurgery for the treatment of skull fractures with epidural and subdural bleeding due to blunt head and chest trauma resulting from a television falling on her. The pathophysiology of death and notes regarding the medico-legal autopsy procedure in such cases are discussed. Meticulous autopsy techniques must be used to determine the presence of an air embolism in cases of blunt trauma, especially in patients with blunt trauma to the head who die during neurosurgery, and possible future malpractice claims should be kept in mind

Evaluation of Deaths in Malatya Due to the Earthquake Centered in Kahramanmaras on 6 February 2023

Objective: This study aimed to retrospectively examine the cases of individuals who lost their lives as a result of the Kahramanmaraş earthquakes on February 6, 2023, and were brought to the study area designated by the Malatya Forensic Medicine Group Presidency. Methods: A total of 916 cases were referred for identification to the center designated as the study area by the Malatya Forensic Medicine Group Presidency following the earthquakes on February 6, 2023, and were examined retrospectively. The obtained data were coded and entered into IBM SPSS Version 22. Descriptive statistics and frequency tables were generated, and the data were analyzed. Results: Among the 916 cases included in the study, 477 (52.1%) were male and 439 (47.9%) were female; 23.2% were under the age of 18, and 13.8% were over the age of 65. The majority (87.9%) were citizens of the Republic of Türkiye. Most injuries were localized to the head and neck region (37.5%). Body integrity was preserved in 88.3% of cases, and signs of decomposition were observed in 77.1%. Fast Technology for the Analysis of Nucleic Acids blood samples was obtained in 39.5% of cases. All bodies were identified through a combination of primary and secondary identification methods and subsequently delivered to their relatives. Conclusions: In countries facing major disaster risks, forensic medicine units must always be prepared for such events. Postmortem examination and victim identification are multidisciplinary processes that require the coordinated efforts of experts from various fields