Using a historical and biographical perspective, this paper examines the structural elements and cultural signs of contemporary social events and problems in Turkey in order to understand their basic features. Hermeneutics is used in order to understand contemporary Turkey by way of its historical background and prominent biographies. Two basic epic texts were interpreted using Gadamarian hermeneutics with the help of key concepts such as gaza1 and gaza cult. Semiotics is used to examine key concepts as binary opposites. Dialectics is (...) used to understand these concepts as the unity of binary opposites coexisting at the same time and place. It is concluded that the contemporary cultural values and biographies explored are linked to their historical past and Islam seems to be more influential on hybrid identities than on ethnic status. (shrink)

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has motivated medical ethicists and several task forces to revisit or issue new guidelines on allocating scarce medical resources. Such guidelines are relevant for the allocation of scarce therapeutics and vaccines and for allocation of ICU beds, ventilators, and other life-sustaining treatments or potentially scarce interventions. Principles underlying these guidelines, like saving the most lives, mitigating disparities, reciprocity to those who assume additional risk (eg, essential workers and clinical trial participants), and equal access may (...) compete with one another. We propose the use of a “categorized priority system” (also known as a “reserve system”) as an improvement over existing allocation methods, particularly because it may be able to achieve disparity mitigation better than other methods. (shrink)

Gods Carved in Stone: The Hittite Rock Sanctuary of Yazɩlɩkaya. By Jürgen Seeher. Istanbul: Ege Yayinlari, 2011. Pp. 205, illus. €35 (paper).

The Reign of Tudhaliya II and Šuppiluliuma I: The Contribution of the Hittite Documentation to a Reconstruction of the Amarna Age. By Boaz Stavi. Texte der Hethiter, vol. 31. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 2015. Pp. xviii + 236. €45.

In this article we present the first edition of five Hieroglyphic Luwian inscriptions of Ancoz and Samsat provenance from the Adıyaman Museum, provide clarification on the records of previously published inscriptions from Ancoz and Samsat, suggest a join with an existing Ancoz inscription, and offer a discussion on the nature of the rulers of Kummuh.

This cross-sectional study was carried out to investigate the frequency of consanguineous marriage in a group of army conscripts in Ankara and the factors affecting this. Of 4153 soldiers, 387 were married. The rate of marriage between first cousins was found to be 19·1%, and the overall rate of consanguineous marriage was 24·1%. Consanguineous marriage was found to be significantly prevalent among soldiers who were born in and still living in the Eastern region; among those who lived in villages; among (...) those whose parents as well as themselves had low educational levels; and among those whose marriages were arranged by their families. Neither the payment of bride-price nor the presence of consanguinity between parents was a significant factor for consanguineous marriage. In addition, the age of the soldier and the age at marriage were significantly lower among soldiers married to first cousins than among soldiers whose marriages were not consanguineous. (shrink)

Afterlives of Ancient Rock-cut Monuments in the Near East: Carvings in and out of Time. Edited by Jonathan Ben-Dov and Felipe Rojas Culture & History of the Ancient Near East, vol. 123. Leiden: Brill, 2021. Pp. xxiii + 441. $190.

BackgroundStudies conducted in the health sector have determined a positive relationship between job satisfaction and work engagement. However, this paper reveals that this relationship turns into a negative or non-significant relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic. We explore the reasons for inconsistency in research findings in this critical period through a meta-analysis.MethodsThis study was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines and PICO framework. Online databases including Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, ProQuest, Google Scholar, and additional records from other databases were searched (...) without any time limitation, and all studies published in English that reported the correlation between work engagement and job satisfaction were included in the analysis. In total, 36 individual correlation coefficients were synthesized. R statistical language was used to analyze the data.ResultA total of 36 studies with a sample size of 16,087 were synthesized. The overall effect size was found as r = 0.57. While the moderating effect of national culture was not statistically significant, presence of COVID-19 as the significant moderator explained 37.08% of effect size heterogeneity. Such that the presence of COVID-19 has transformed the positive relationship between work engagement and job satisfaction into a negative but statistically non-significant relationship.ConclusionThis study empirically challenges the existing assumptions about the positive link between work engagement and job satisfaction. The results of the research can be a guide for managers and policymakers. Specifically, based on these results, different mechanisms can be put in place to support work engagement and, in turn, job satisfaction in the COVID-19 process. (shrink)

Reserve systems are a tool to allocate scarce resources when stakeholders do not have a single objective. This paper introduces some basic concepts about reserve systems for pandemic medical resource allocation. At the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, we proposed that reserve systems can help practitioners arrive at compromises between competing stakeholders. More than a dozen states and local jurisdictions adopted reserve systems in initial phases of vaccine distribution. We highlight several design issues arising in some of these implementations. We (...) also offer suggestions about ways practitioners can take advantage of the flexibility offered by reserve systems. (shrink)

As hospitals in the US and elsewhere fill again with patients with covid-19, discussions about how to fairly allocate scarce medical resources have come to the fore once again. One frequently voiced concern is that non-covid-19 patients with urgent health needs are facing indefinitely postponed surgeries, long-distance hospital transfers, or even are unable to access medical treatment. In our view, a reserve or categorised priority system could help. It could be used to fairly distribute scarce medical capacity—such as staffing, physical (...) space, and medical treatments—between covid-19 and non-covid-19 patients, just as it has been used or proposed to allocate covid-19 therapeutics and vaccines. (shrink)