Integrated Decision Making in Global Supply Chains and Networks

One of the more visible and often controversial effects of globalization is the rising trend in global sourcing, commonly referred to as outsourcing, offshoring or offshore outsourcing. Today, many organizations experience the necessity of growing globally in order to remain profitable and competitive. This research focuses on the process that organizations undergo in making strategic decisions of whether or not to go offshore, and then on the location and volume of these offshore operations.This research considers the strategic decision of offshoring and sub-divides it into two components: analysis of monetary benefits and evaluation of intangible variables. In this research, these two components are integrated by developing an analytical decision approach that can incorporate quantitative and qualitative factors in a structure based on multiple solution methodologies. The decision approach developed consists of two phases which concurrently assess the offshoring decision by utilizing mixed integer programming and multi-attribute decision modeling, specifically using Analytic Network Process, followed by multi-objective optimization and tradeoff analysis. The decision approach is further enhanced by employing engineering economic tools such as life cycle costing and activity based costing. As a result, the approach determines optimal offshoring strategies and provides a framework to investigate the optimality of the decisions with changing parameters and priorities.The applicability, compliance and effectiveness of the developed integrated decision making approach is demonstrated on two real life cases in two different industry types. Through empirical studies, different dimensions of offshoring decisions are examined, classified and characterized within the framework of the developed decision approach. The solutions are evaluated by their value, level of support and relevance to the decision makers.The utilization of the developed systematic approach showed that counterintuitive decisions may sometimes be the best strategy.This study contributes to the literature with a comprehensive decision approach for determining the most advantageous offshoring location and distribution strategies by integrating multiple solution methodologies. This approach can be adapted in the corporate world as a tool to improve global vision

Internet Addiction and Its Treatment

With the introduction of new technologies, computer and internet use have become an unavoidable necessity in our daily lives. Internet was originally designed to facilitate communication and research. However the dramatic increase in use of internet in recent years has led to its pathologic use. Turkey, as a developing country with an increasing rate of internet access and computer use is at high risk for this disorder. In our country, this disorder is especially seen in young people who are more skilled in internet and computer use. And because their excessive internet use has led to negative consequences in their academic, social and family lives, patients and their families began search of treatment for this disorder. So clinicians must be aware of this newly emerging disorder and they should be able to apply the appropriate therapeutic interventions. This paper aims to summarize the pharmacological and cognitive-behavioral treatment of internet addiction

Measuring students’ preferences for urban furniture vandalism in Selçuk University Campus in Turkey: A case study

Vandalism is a phenomenon that we can encounter in any circumstances to public or private property. The vandalistic behaviors depend on the individuals’ perception and public tolerance; also, the human intolerance and their behavior are the factors which might influence the vandalistic acts. To understand the individuals’ perception of the vandalism issue, it is necessary to get the correct information, reason, and dimension of the act. The purpose of this research is to identify and understand the perception, thoughts, and attitudes of the students from Selçuk University toward the concept of vandalism. According to the questionnaire conducted for this purpose, 82.3% of the participants were reported to have aggressive behaviors against urban elements, and the damage to urban furniture was mostly done by writing (66.2%). The survey-research revealed that gender, which mostly involved in vandalism are males. Also, the timing of vandalism is observed at 21:00 (49%). The rate of those participants who said that they harmed the urban furniture is 15.6%, consciously stated that they had damaged the picnic table (55.1%) by writing or drawing (40%), and they had done it because the urban furniture was already vandalized (44.6%). This study will provide guidance on solutions by finding the causes and types of vandalism acts on urban furniture, which is a serious but not undetected problem in university campuses. The research indicated that people perceived vandalism as a lack of consciousness, sanction, and quality of the material and affects the quality of life. While, if enough people are aware of the problem, then the incident rate will decline, simultaneously

Türkiye’de Kamu Harcamalarý ve Ekonomik Büyüme Ýliþkisi (1950-2003)

This paper attempts to test Wagnerian and Keynesian hypotheses by examining the relationship between economic growth and total government expenditure as well as its various components, such as current, investment, and transfer expenditures for Turkey during the period 1950-2003. This study finds a unidirectional causality (except for total government expenditure) from economic growth to disaggregated public expenditure that total current, investment, transfer expenditures, non-transfer total public expenditures in the long run. Although the results of this study do not support the existence of any long run casual relationship between economic growth and total public expenditures, they do support the existence of long run relationship between economic growth and the disaggregated public expenditure variables. The result of this study provide evidence to support the proposition in the literature that causality runs from economic growth to disaggregated public expenditure called as Wagner hypothesis.Wagnerian and Keynesian hypotheses, dissagregated public expenditure, growth, causality, co-integration, error correction model

Türkiye’de Sanayi Sektörü - Ýktisadi Büyüme Ýliþkisinin Kaldor Hipotezi Çerçevesinde Test Edilmesi

This study first provides an outline of Kaldor's growth model and then tests its relevance to the economic experience of Turkey during the period 1963-2005 by using cointegration and causality tests. Kaldor's first law states that manufacturing is the engine of economic growth, whereas the second proposition, also known as Verdoorn's law, asserts that there is a strong positive casual relationship between manufacturing productivity growth and output growth, due to static and dynamic increasing returns to scale. Kaldor's third law purports that overall growth is positively correlated to employment growth in manufacturing output, and negatively correlated to employment in non-manufacturing sectors. The empirical results, regardless of the specification and estimation techniques employed, suggest that the models can partly explain the developments in the economy to a certain degree.Kaldor‘s Law, Industrial Output, Employment, Productivity, Growth,

Transvaginal Sonographic Evaluation of the Cervix in Asymptomatic Singleton Pregnancy and Management Options in Short Cervix

Preterm delivery (PTD), defined as birth before 37 completed weeks of gestation, is the leading cause of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Evaluation of the cervical morphology and biometry with transvaginal ultrasonography at 16–24 weeks of gestation is a useful tool to predict the risk of preterm birth in low- and high-risk singleton pregnancies. For instance, a sonographic cervical length (CL) > 30 mm and present cervical gland area have a 96-97% negative predictive value for preterm delivery at <37 weeks. Available evidence supports the use of progesterone to women with cervical length ≤25 mm, irrespective of other risk factors. In women with prior spontaneous PTD with asymptomatic cervical shortening (CL ≤ 25 mm), prophylactic cerclage procedure must be performed and weekly to every two weeks follow-up is essential. This article reviews the evidence in support of the clinical introduction of transvaginal sonography for both the prediction and management of spontaneous preterm labour

Implication of Regret on Mutual Fund Managers' Risk-Shifting Decision

We investigate whether regret can explain mutual fund managers' risk-shifting behavior. We propose a theoretical framework by introducing a modi_ed utility function for mutual fund managers who are both risk averse and regret averse. The empirical tests of the proposed framework imply that mutual fund managers who perform worse than their peers (i.e., who exhibit return-regret) tend to have a positive risk-shifting, whereas those who have a higher portfolio volatility (i.e., who exhibit variance-regret) tend to have a negative risk-shifting behavior over the next period. Furthermore, we document that the e_ect of variance regret is more signi_cant for institutional funds than for retail funds. Finally, when considering fund ows, the return-regret e_ect is more signifcant than the variance-regret e_ect, conrming that investors' outows are mainly due fund managers' bad performance relative to their peers. The results are robust to using alternative measures of regret based on funds' potential benchmarks

Implication of Regret on Mutual Fund Managers' Risk-Shifting Decision

We investigate whether regret can explain mutual fund managers' risk-shifting behavior. We propose a theoretical framework by introducing a modi_ed utility function for mutual fund managers who are both risk averse and regret averse. The empirical tests of the proposed framework imply that mutual fund managers who perform worse than their peers (i.e., who exhibit return-regret) tend to have a positive risk-shifting, whereas those who have a higher portfolio volatility (i.e., who exhibit variance-regret) tend to have a negative risk-shifting behavior over the next period. Furthermore, we document that the e_ect of variance regret is more signi_cant for institutional funds than for retail funds. Finally, when considering fund ows, the return-regret e_ect is more signifcant than the variance-regret e_ect, conrming that investors' outows are mainly due fund managers' bad performance relative to their peers. The results are robust to using alternative measures of regret based on funds' potential benchmarks

Implication of Regret on Mutual Funds Managers Risk-Shifting Decision

We investigate whether regret can explain mutual fund managers’ risk-shifting behav-ior. We propose a theoretical framework by introducing a modified utility functionfor mutual fund managers who are both risk averse and regret averse. The empiricaltests of the proposed framework imply that mutual fund managers who perform worsethan their peers (i.e., who exhibit return-regret) tend to have a positive risk-shifting,whereas those who have a higher portfolio volatility (i.e., who exhibit variance-regret)tend to have a negative risk-shifting behavior over the next period. Furthermore, wedocument that the effect of variance regret is more significant for institutional fundsthan for retail funds. Finally, when considering fund flows, the return-regret effect ismore significant than the variance-regret effect, confirming that investors’ outflows aremainly due fund managers’ bad performance relative to their peers. The results arerobust to using alternative measures of regret based on funds’ potential benchmarks