Analyzing the economic development-driven ecological deficit in the EU-15 countries: new evidence from PSTR approach

This paper empirically analyzes the non-linear effect of economic activities on ecological balance indicators that estimate the balance between economies' pressure on nature and the biologically productive resource areas affected by human activity and the earth's ecological carrying capacity. In measuring this balance, ecological balance sheet indicators are divided into four sub-components: cropland, fishing grounds, forest area, and grazing land. The sample of the study consists of the EU-15 countries over the period 1995-2016. To render the study robust with respect to econometric issues such as potential endogeneity bias, cross-country heterogeneity, non-linearity, and time instability, the panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) method is adapted. The empirical findings reveal that up to a certain threshold level, economic activities do not affect the ecological balance as nature can compensate for the resulting externalities, but beyond this threshold, waste accumulation and pollution exceed nature's capacity to absorb. Consequently, these findings do not empirically support the EKC hypothesis with an inverted U-shaped curve and suggest that active environmental policies are needed to improve the environment

The Relationship between Financial Literacy and Finance Education: A Resarch for University Students of the Sütlüce Region

Financial literacy is a feature that has been stripped of privilege and has become a necessity in today's society. When proliferation of financial markets, the increase in the variety of financial instruments, the use of internet technologies in financial markets, and that bank clients have started to execute their transactions through online channels instead of the face-to-face branch visits are taken into consideration, the need for financial literacy can be recognized more clearly. Today, the most basic way to develop financial literacy is through education in this field. In this context, either individuals will catch up with the recent developments through their own research efforts or they will receive education from relevant external institutions.This study, which investigated the effect of financial education on financial literacy, the students from the finance and economics departments of the universities located in Sütlüce, Istanbul were compared with the students who did not receive such education. The study was conducted over 110 students. While 77 percent of these students received education in economic and financial fields, 23 percent did not. Our analyses showed that students who received economics and finance education displayed higher average financial management and accounting capability, financial literacy sub-dimensions, compared to ones who did not have these educations. On the other hand, the financial calculation success levels of respondents were found inadequate with respect to the significantly large size of the group who received financial education. Only 1.8% of the participants were able to successfully answer all of the questions

A new online education environment: OTLP

Çevrimiçi eğitim imkânlarının gelişen teknoloji ile birlikte artması, eğitim çeşitliliğine ve erişilebilirliğine büyük katkılar sunmuştur. Bu imkânlara rağmen ücretsiz veya ücreti tahammül sınırları içinde kaliteli eğitimler ile erişilebilirliği yüksek ve kullanımı kolay bir eğitim ortamına ulaşmada hala zorluklar yaşanmaktadır. Özellikle de eğitimlerin tek bir platform altında toplanması sağlanamamıştır. Buna ek olarak eğitimin uluslararasılaşma, akreditasyon, saygınlık ve kültürel, turistik ve siyasal anlamda ülkeye katkı sağlayabilecek geniş etkili bir eğitim ortamı bulunmamaktadır. Bu çalışmada bu eksiklikler ve sorunlara çözüm olabileceği düşünülen çevrimiçi bir eğitim ortamı teorik olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Tanımlanan çevrimiçi ortam ile özellikle öğretmenlik mezunu olup aktif öğretmenlik yapmayanlar ile çeşitli alanlarda eğitimli veya tecrübeli bireylerin sisteme dâhil edilmesi planlanmıştır. İş gücüne katılamayan fakat birçok alanda özgün ve değerli bilgiye sahip bu bireylerin hem para kazanması hem de iş gücüne katılarak ülke ekonomisine katkı sağlamaları amaçlanmıştır. Bunlara ek olarak çeşitli kurumların çalışanlarına vermesi gereken zorunlu eğitimlerin çevrimiçi olarak verilebileceği bir platform olarak öngörülmüştür. Bu platform, “Çevrimiçi Öğretme ve Öğrenme Platformu” kelimelerinin başharflerinden oluşan ÇÖÖP olarak ifade edilecektir. Sertifika, diploma vb. ulusal ve uluslararası geçerliliği olan akredite belge alabilme imkânları ile kaliteli bir eğitim ortamı oluşturulmaya çalışılmıştır. Benzerleri ile karşılaştırıldığında bu eğitim ortamının farkı olarak eğitimlerin çeşitliliği, kalitesi, uluslararası düzeyde erişilebilirlik ve geçerlilik ile istihdamın artması, işsizliğin azalması, kültürel bilinirliğin artması ile kamu yararına ve ülke tanıtımına sağladığı etki gösterilebilir. Uluslararası düzeyde farklı dillerde verilecek eğitimler ile ülke dışına da hizmet verebilecek böylece özellikle ülkemiz kültürüne ait unutulmaya yüz tutmuş meslek eğitimler ile kültürel olarak tanıtımımızın yapılması sağlanabilecektir. Bu eğitim ortamı temelde internet üzerinden görüntü akışı, canlı sohbet ve etkileşimli dersler, sınavlar ve etkinliklerin gerçekleştirildiği bir ortamdır.The increase of online education facilities with developing technology has made great contributions to education diversity and accessibility. Despite these possibilities, there are still difficulties in reaching an educational environment with high quality, accessibility and free or within the limits of cost tolerance. In particular, the collection of teachers, students and courses under a single platform have not been achieved. In addition, there is no broad-based educational environment in which educations have accreditation, can contribute to internationalization, prestige of the country and support cultural, touristic, political development of the country. In this study, it is theoretically defined an online educational environment which is thought to be a solution to these shortcomings and problems. With the defined online environment, it is planned to include those who are graduates of teaching and not active teachers, and individuals educated or experienced in various fields. It is aimed that these individuals who cannot participate in the work force but who have many unique and valuable knowledge in a specific topic make money and contribute to the country's economy by participating in the work force. In addition to these, it is envisaged as a platform where compulsory trainings to be given to the employees of various institutions can be given online. This platform will be called as “OTLP” in which the characters stand for the first characters of “Online Teaching and Learning Platform”. The opportunity to reach a quality education environment has been tried to create with national and international validity of the accredited documents such as certificates, diplomas. Compared with the other education environments, the differences are as follows. Diversity of education, quality, accessibility and validity at international level and also decreasing unemployment, increasing cultural awareness and public interest and promotion of the country. It will be able to provide services in different languages on an international level, and thus it will be possible to provide cultural services with vocational trainings especially forgotten culture of our country. This training environment is basically an environment where video streaming on the internet, live chat and interactive lessons, exams and activities are performed

Analysis of the Visitor Data of a Higher Education Institution Website

İnternetin insan yaşamında her alana tesir ettiği günümüz dünyasında, internet birçok alanda olduğu gibi kurumsal web sitelerinde de değişime neden olmuştur. Kurumsal web siteleri daha dinamik, etkileşime daha çok olanak sağlayan ve yeni teknolojilere daha uyumlu olmalıdır. Web sitesinin kullanıcı, arama motorları ve diğer cihazlarla etkileşiminin uzman kişilerce incelenmesi ve bu etkileşime yönelik geliştirme ve değişikliklerin yapılması sitenin daha erişilebilir, esnek ve uyumlu olmasını sağlayacaktır. Bu doğrultuda yapılan bu çalışmada bir yükseköğretim kurumuna ait web sitesinin verileri incelenmiştir. İnceleme için 2013 yılı ile 2019 yılı arasındaki toplanmış ziyaretçi verileri kullanılmıştır. Kapsamlı incelemelerin ve verilerin yer aldığı çalışmada, ziyaretçi trafik analizinden geliştirme önerilerine kadar önemli birçok noktaya yer verilmiştir. Özellikle sitenin mobil cihazlar ile uyumluluğu, resim ve videoların optimizasyonu, kullanıcıların demografik özellikleri, dil seçenekleri ile erişilen içeriğin zamana göre yoğunluğu analizleri ile faydalı bilgilere ulaşılmıştır. In today’s world, the internet affects every aspect of human life; it has caused changes in corporate websites as well as in many other areas. Corporate websites should be more dynamic, more interactive, and more compatible with new technologies. The interaction of the web site with users, search engines, and other devices has to be examined by experts, and improvements and changes should be made for this interaction. In this study, a higher education institution web site was examined. Visitor data collected between 2013 and 2019 were used for the analysis. In the study, which includes a wide range of examinations and data, important findings from traffic analysis to development suggestions were included. In particular, useful information has been obtained through the compatibility of the site with mobile devices, optimization of pictures and videos, geographical features of users, language options, and density analysis of the content accessed over time.In today’s world, the internet affects every aspect of human life; it has caused changes in corporate websites as well as in many other areas. Corporate websites should be more dynamic, more interactive, and more compatible with new technologies. The interaction of the web site with users, search engines, and other devices has to be examined by experts, and improvements and changes should be made for this interaction. In this study, a higher education institution web site was examined. Visitor data collected between 2013 and 2019 were used for the analysis. In the study, which includes a wide range of examinations and data, important findings from traffic analysis to development suggestions were included. In particular, useful information has been obtained through the compatibility of the site with mobile devices, optimization of pictures and videos, geographical features of users, language options, and density analysis of the content accessed over time

Investigation of Analysis Methods For Detection of Humic Substances Within Leonardite

Leonardite is a lignite form, which has undergone oxidation at high rate during the carbonization process. It has economic value because it contains humic substances at high rate. While it is used in organic agriculture, as soil conditioner, it is also used in other industrial fields such as cosmetics and medicine. Physical properties such as color, as well as chemical properties such as solubility in alkaline media and humic content are examined for the definition and characterization of leonardite. In particular, the detection of humic substance content is the most important feature used in the industrial usage of leonardites. Various instrumental analysis techniques and wet chemical analysis techniques are utilized for this purpose. However, it is a matter of debate whether these methods are applicable for the industry. In this study, instrumental and chemical methods used in the analysis of humic substance were examined. Along with these, industrial, reliable and fast methods have been determined as well

HERD BEHAVIOR IN CRYPTO ASSET MARKETAND EFFECT OF FINANCIAL INFORMATION ON HERD BEHAVIOR

The initial purpose of the study is to search whether the market exhibits herd behavior or not by examining the crypto asset market in the context of behavioral finance. And the second purpose of the study is to measure whether the financial information stimulates the herd behavior or not. Within this frame, the announcements of Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), Governing Council of European Central Bank (ECB) and Policy Board of Bank of Japan (BOJ) for interest change, and S&P 500, Nikkei 225, FTSE 100 and GOLD SPOT indices’ data were used. In the study, the analyses were made over 100 cryptocurrencies with the highest trading volume by the use of 2014:5 -2019:12 period. For the analysis, the Markov Switching approach as well as loads of empiric models developed by Chang et al. (2000) were used. According to the results obtained, the presence of herd behavior in the crypto asset market was determined in the relevant period. But it was found that interestrate announcements, and stock exchange performances had no effect on the herd behavior

Assessing forest fire behavior simulation using FlamMap software and remote sensing techniques in Western Black Sea Region, Turkey 

European Community's INTERREG IV 'Black Sea Basin Joint Operational Programme 2007-2013 MIS ETC 2666 nr. 15610/25.02.2013 Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU) in TURKEY TR08C1.01-02/323Aim of study: Forest fuels are very critical for fire behavior models and hazard maps. Relationship among wind speed, fuel moisture content, slope, and fuel type directs us to predict fire behavior of a given region. For this study, we evaluated fire behavior parameters such as fireline intensity and rate of fire spread using the fuel moisture content, slope, fuel load, and wind speed for the Bayam Forest District with the help of remote sensing techniques and FlamMap software. Area of study: The study area is located in Bayam Forest District in the city of Taskopru, Kastamonu, a Western Black Sea region of Turkey. Material and Methods: In order to estimate and map forest fuel load of the study area, fuel models were developed using the parameters of the average vegetation height, 1-hr, 10-hr, and 100-hr fuel load, foliage, total fuel load, litter load and litter depth. Three basic fire descriptors (fireline intensity, rate of fire spread, and flame length) were calculated using FlamMap software with the parameters fuel load, wind speed, fuel moisture, and slope. Using the descriptors above, the historical fire data was overlaid with the fireline intensity maps to determine fire potential areas within the remote sensing and GIS framework. Main results: The results of this study showed that 20.0% of the region had low (<2 m min-1 ), 43.2% had moderate (2- 15 m min-1 ), 12.0% had high (15-30 m min-1 ), and 24.8% had very high (>30 m min-1 ) rate of fire spread, respectively. The fireline intensity map showed that 60.7% of the area was in low (0-350 kW m-1 ), 24.9% was in moderate (350-1700 kW m1 ), 1.3% was in high (1700-3500 kW m-1 ), and 13.0% was in very high (>3500 kW m-1 ) fireline intensity. Highlights: The spatial extent of fuel types was observed and three of the potential fire behavior predictors (fire intensity, rate of fire spread and flame length) were estimated using remote sensing and GIS techniques. The overlaid historical fire data showed that the most fire-prone areas are in the mixed young Anatolian black pine - Scots pine tree stands that have 40-70% canopy cover and that are in the young Anatolian black pine tree stands that have more than 70% canopy cove

Does Too Much Energy Consumption Harm Economic Growth for Turkish Republics in The Transition Process? New Evidence on Threshold Effects

This paper examines whether the effect of energy consumption on economic growth is dependent on the level of energy intensity for 5 Turkish republics in the transition process over the period 1991–2012. These economies are divided into two groups in the context of their energy balance. The first group comprises all of the Turkish republics in the transition process while the second group is composed of only the net energy exporter countries among them. Using an innovative dynamic panel threshold technique, the estimated threshold of the energy intensity for the first group is 0.68 per cent, while for the second group countries the threshold is 0.44 per cent. The empirical results indicate that the energy consumption rate above the threshold energy intensity level adversely affects the economic growth, but this negative relationship becomes positive one when the energy consumption is below the threshold level. These findings reveal that the energy consumption is beneficial to economic growth only up to a certain threshold of the energy intensity; beyond the threshold level further the consumption tends to adversely affect the growth. In this regard, policy makers in the transition economies should not ignore threshold levels within the context of energy intensity while determining energy policies. Keywords: Dynamic Panel Threshold Analysis, Energy Consumption, Economic Growth, Energy Intensity JEL Classifications: C24, Q43, O1

Yapay Zeka ve Nesnelerin İnternetine Dayalı Otomatik Sulama Sistemi

It is not hard to see that the need for clean water is growing by considering the decrease of the water sources day by day in the world. Potable fresh water is also used for irrigation, so it should be planned to decrease fresh water wastage. With the development of the technology and the availability of cheaper and more effective solutions, the efficiency of the irrigation increased and the water loss can be reduced. In particular, Internet of things (IoT) devices have begun to be used in all areas. We can easily and precisely collect temperature, humidity and mineral values from the irrigation field with the IoT devices and sensors. Most of the operations and decisions about irrigation are carried out by people. For people, it is hard to have all the real time data such as temperature, moisture and mineral levels in the decision-making process and make decisions by considering them. People usually make decisions with their experience. In this study, a wide range of information from irrigation field was obtained by using IoT devices and sensors. Data collected from IoT devices and sensors sent via communication channels and stored on MongoDB.With the help of Weka software, the data was normalized and the normalized data was used as a learning set. As a result of the examinations, decision tree (J48) algorithm with the highest accuracy was chosen and artificial intelligence model was created. Decisions are used to manage operations such as starting, maintaining and stopping the irrigation. The accuracy of the decisions was evaluated and the irrigation system was tested with the results. There are options to manage, view the system remotely and manually and also see the system’s decisions with the created mobile application.Dünyadaki temiz su kaynaklarının günden güne azalması göz önüne alındığında temiz su ihtiyacının arttığını görmek zor değildir. Temiz içme suyu aynı zamanda sulama için de kullanılır bu nedenle temiz su israfı azaltma süreci planlanmalıdır. Teknolojinin gelişmesi, daha ucuz ve daha etkin çözümlerin ortaya çıkması ile birlikte, sulama verimliliği artmakta ve su kaybı azalmaktadır. Özellikle, Nesnelerin İnterneti cihazları (IoT) tüm alanlarda kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. IoT cihazlar ve sensörler ile sulama alanından sıcaklık, nem ve mineral değerlerini kolayca ve hassas bir şekilde toplayabiliriz. Günümüzde sulama ile ilgili işlem ve kararların çoğu insanlar tarafından yürütülmektedir. Karar verme sürecinde sıcaklık, nem ve mineral seviyeleri gibi birçok gerçek zamanlı veriye sahip olmak ve bunları dikkate alarak karar vermek insanlar için zordur. İnsanlar genellikle kendi deneyimleriyle karar alırlar. Bu çalışmada, IoT cihazları ve sensörler kullanılarak sulama alanından geniş bir veri toplanmıştır. IoT cihazlarından ve sensörlerden toplanan veriler, iletişim kanallarından sunucuya aktarılır ve MongoDB üzerinde saklanır. Weka yazılımı yardımı ile normalizasyon işlemleri yapılan veriler öğrenme seti olarak kullanılır. Denemeler sonucunca yüksek başarı oranına sahip karar ağacı (J48) algoritması seçilmiş ve yapay zeka modeli oluşturulmuştur. Kararlar, sulamayı başlatmak, sürdürmek ve durdurmak gibi işlemleri yönetmek için kullanılmıştır. Kararların doğruluğu değerlendirilmiş ve sulama sistemi sonuçlarla test edilmiştir. Oluşturulan mobil uygulama ile sistemi uzaktan ve manuel olarak yönetmek, görüntülemek ve ayrıca sistemin vermiş olduğu kararları görebilmek için seçenekler vardır