The teeth of humans and pigs are similar in size, shape, and enamel thickness. While the formation of human primary incisor crowns takes about 8 months, domestic pigs form their teeth within a much shorter time. Piglets are born after 115 days of gestation with some of their teeth erupted that must after weaning meet the mechanical demands of their omnivorous diet without failure. We asked whether this short mineralization time before tooth eruption is combined with a post-eruptive mineralization process, how fast this process occurs, and how much the enamel hardens after eruption. To address this question, we investigated the properties of porcine teeth at two, four, and sixteen weeks after birth (N = 3 animals per time point) through analyses of composition, microstructure, and microhardness. We collected data at three standardized horizontal planes across the tooth crown to determine the change of properties throughout the enamel thickness and in relation to soft tissue eruption. Our findings indicate that porcine teeth erupt hypomineralized compared to healthy human enamel and reach a hardness that is similar to healthy human enamel within less than 4 weeks.

Akdeniz, tarih boyunca sahip olduğu jeostratejik önemin yanı sıra son yıllarda bölgede keşfedilen hidrokarbon kaynaklar üzerinden bölgesel ve küresel aktörlerin katıldıkları bir güç mücadelesine sahne olmaktadır. Akdeniz, Avrupa güvenliği açısından da önem taşıyan bir bölgedir. Diğer yandan Avrupa Birliği (AB) ile ilişkilerini tam üyelik müzakereleri aşamasında sürdüren Türkiye de tarihsel ve coğrafi olarak bir Akdeniz ülkesidir. Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, Türk dış politikasında Akdeniz’in bir bölge olarak konumunu ortaya koymak ve Soğuk Savaş sonrasında Akdeniz’in Türk dış politikası tarafından nasıl kavramsallaştırıldığını ve ayrı bir bölge olarak inşa edilip edilmediğini anlamaya çalışmaktır. Çalışmada Türk dış politikasının Akdeniz’e bir bütün olarak bakışını etkileyen faktörlerden biri olarak, AB’nin Akdeniz’e yönelik iş birliği girişimlerine Türkiye’nin tepkisi ele alınmaktadır. Makale, AB’nin Avrupa-Akdeniz Ortaklığı girişiminin Türkiye’nin AB üyeliğine bir alternatif olarak sunulmasından duyulan rahatsızlığın ve şüphenin, Türkiye’nin Akdeniz’e yönelik sistematik ve bütüncül bir siyaset geliştirmesini engelleyen önemli faktörlerden birisi olduğu savını ileri sürmektedir. Türkiye’nin bütüncül ve kurumsal bir Akdeniz politikası geliştirmekten ziyade bölge ülkeleriyle geliştirdiği ikili ilişkiler ve çok taraflı platformlar aracılığıyla bölgenin güvenliği ve refahı için katkı verme odaklı bir dış politika izlediği görülmektedir. Türkiye’nin odak noktasının son yıllarda bölgede yaşanan gelişmelerin de etkisiyle Akdeniz Havzası’nın bütününden ziyade Doğu Akdeniz olduğu görülmektedir.

This study aims to provide a regional analysis on the political transformation of Eastern Europe, by focusing mainly on the political developments in the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus, in the post-Cold War period. The analysis takes into account that Russian influence on the Eastern European countries in terms of political, economic and military aspects is one of the main dynamics of Eastern Europe. Within this framework, this study mainly argues that the democratization of Eastern European countries has been considerably limited. The main reason behind this is the fact that Russia has the ability to affect the domestic and foreign policies of Eastern European countries through political, economic, military and cultural instruments. In Russia and Belarus, the democratic transformation processes did not progress significantly in the post-communist period. Authoritarian governments have continued to exist in these two countries. Compared to Russia and Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova have engaged in efforts for democratic transformation. However, Ukraine and Moldova could not make a significant progress in democratization due to the ambivalence between Russian-oriented and the Western-oriented foreign policy preferences, and considerable impact of Russia on these countries through political, economic, military, cultural, social and historical factors. Due to Ukraine's inability to establish a common national identity and national consciousness; the loss of Crimea in 2014 and the emergence of internal conflict in the eastern regions of the country; and due to the separatist Transnistria conflict, the remaining Russian soldiers from the 14th Soviet Army, and military ammunition in Moldova, it was not possible for these two countries to focus on a real democratization process while dealing with these problems. Ukraine and Moldova have failed to realize democratic consolidation because of the Russian efforts to dominate Eastern Europe as a region including Ukraine and Moldova. The influence of Russia on the countries of Eastern Europe and its desire to establish control has resulted with very fragile structures in Ukraine's and Moldova's domestic and foreign policies.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7134-8985 Bilgilendirme / Acknowledgement: -Yazarlar aşağıdaki bilgilendirmeleri yapmaktadırlar: -Makalemizde etik kurulu izni ve/veya yasal/özel izin alınmasını gerektiren bir durum yoktur -Bu makalede araştırma ve yayın etiğine uyulmuştur.-23-25 Eylül 2021 tarihlerinde Jandarma ve Sahil Güvenlik Akademisi'nde icra edilen 2. Uluslararası Güvenlik Kongresi'nde sunulan tebliğin genişletilmiş halidir.Bu makale Turnitin tarafından kontrol edilmiştir. This article was checked by Turnitin.

This article aims to provide a critical analysis with regard to economic and environmental dimension of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), namely 'Second Dimension of the Organization'. The article also aims to portray the OSCE's perceptions towards economic and environmental issues as well as their link to security. As a reflection of its comprehensive security approach, the OSCE is always concerned with the economic and environmental matters. This article argues that although the OSCE's involvement in the economic and environmental dimension reflects the Organization's comprehensive approach to security, economic and environmental dimension turns out to be the weakest dimension of the OSCE in terms of the overall contribution of the Organization to the efforts aiming at achieving comprehensive security. In other words, economic and environmental matters have remained secondary in comparison to the non-military issues in the field of human dimension and non-military aspects of the politico-military dimension within the OSCE context.