Post-ideological world: Politics of globalisation in mark ravenhill's 'some explicit polaroids'

Mark Ravenhill 1990 sonrası İngiliz tiyatrosunun en üretken yazarlarından biridir. Yazar, son onbeş yıl içinde öncü sayılabilecek oyunlar yazmıştır. Ravenhill'in ulusal ve uluslararası düzeyde elde ettiği şöhret, küresel olaylara olan ilgisiyle açıklanabilir. En heyecan uyandırıcı oyunlarından biri olan 'Some Explicit Polaroids' (Açık Saçık Birkaç Polaroid), küreselleşmeyi yansıtan aynalar galerisi gibidir. Oyunda Ravenhill, sadece tüketim kültürü ile çağdaş tüketim toplumunu taşlamakla kalmaz, aynı zamanda, itaat kültürüne dayalı bu tür toplumlarda, insanlığın kurtuluş yollarının nasıl değiştiğini tartışmaya açar. Bu makale, Ravenhill'in 'Some Explicit Polaroids' oyunu ile küreselleşmeye olan itirazını araştırmaktadır. Mark Ravenhill is one of the most prolific playwrights of English theatre in the 1990s. Over the last fifteen years he has created pioneering works. His national and international reputation is strongly predetermined by global factors. His one of the most thrilling plays 'Some Explicit Polaroids' (1999) is as a gallery of mirrors which reflects globalisation. In the play, Ravenhill not only satirises consumerist culture and contemporary consumer society but also argues the changes for survival of humanity within these societies based on obedience. This paper explores Ravenhill's foray into globalisation with 'Some Explicit Polaroids'.&nbsp

Satisfaction with a performance appraisal system and affecting factors

İşe yerleştirme, performans değerleme, ücretlendirme, eğitim ve motivasyon insan kaynakları yönetiminin temel unsurlarıdır. Bunlar arasında performans değerleme, diğer insan kaynakları sistemlerinin kurulmasında üstlendiği yardımcı rol nedeniyle, önem derecesinde en ön planda yer almaktadır. Ayrıca değerleme sayesinde çalışanların verimliliği belirlenir ve sürekli gelişim planlarıyla bireylerin desteklenmesi ve geliştirilmesi sağlanır. Sonuç olarak performans değerleme bir organizasyonun insan kaynaklarının verimliliğini arttırmada temel bir gerekliliktir. Çalışanların organizasyona karşı tutum ve tepkileri, uygulamalı psikoloji dalında en çok araştırılan konu başlıklarından biri olmuştur. Benzer olarak araştırmacı ve uygulamacılar tarafından yoğun bir şekilde araştırılan bir diğer konu da performans değerlemedir. Çalışanların performans değerleme süreci hakkındaki tutumları ve tepkileri, performans değerleme sisteminin faydası değerlendirilirken göz önünde bulundurulması gereken en önemli kriterlerden biridir. Bu çalışmada, konuyla ilgili yazın incelenmiş ve bu doğrultuda çalışanların performans değerleme sistemi memnuniyetlerini etkileyebilecek algı ve tutumlar belirlenmiştir. Teorik beklentiler doğrultusunda oluşturulan araştırma hipotezleri, kamunun sahipliğini yaptığı özel bir işletmede sınanmıştır. Veriler, güncel yazın incelenerek, özgün olarak hazırlanan bir soru formu aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Soru formunda yer alan ifade grupları, önceki çalışmalarda geçerliliği ve güvenilirliği sınanmış ölçekler temel alınarak geliştirilmiştir. Toplanan veriler, yapılan betimleyici faktör analizlerinden sonra regresyon analizi yapılarak incelenmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular doğrultusunda, memnuniyetle ilişkili unsurlar açığa çıkarılmıştır. Araştırma sonuçları, daha önceden yapılmış çalışmalarla karşılaştırılarak oluşan farklılıklar yorumlanmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Performans değerleme sistemi, algı ve tutum, etkinlik, memnuniyet.Employee selection, performance appraisal, compensation, training, and motivation are the major topics of the human resources management. Among these topics, performance appraisal is the most important one because of the supportive role in forming the other systems. Furthermore, an appraisal is helpful determining effectiveness of the employees, which concludes with the continuous improvement, and support plans of the individuals. Finally, a performance appraisal is a basic necessity to increase the effectiveness of the human resources of an organization. One of the most researched topics of the applied psychology branch is the attitudes and reactions of the employees towards the organization. Research about job satisfaction and the organizational commitment is the main axis of the issue. Another frequently researched topic is the "performance appraisal". The attitudes and the reactions of the employees about the process are one of the most important criteria while evaluating the usefulness of performance appraisal systems. In the last decade, there has been an increase in the number of studies, which have investigated the characteristics of performance appraisal systems. These studies have used questionnaires to assess individuals' reactions to various aspects of the appraisal system. In this research, literature regarding the opinions of employees' has been reviewed, and the perceptions and attitudes that might affect employees' satisfaction level of performance appraisal have been determined. Research hypothesis that was formed on the basis of the theoretical expectations have been tested in a private sector organization which is owned by government. All the data were collected with a questionnaire which was prepared genuinely after reviewing the contemporary literature. The expression patterns of the questionnaire were based on the previous studies in which their validity and the reliability were already approved. The collected data were examined with the regression analysis technique after the descriptive factor analysis. Based on the findings of the analysis, the relationships which forms the satisfaction construct were revealed. As a result of the research, it is observed that, a two-sided interaction exists between the satisfaction and effectiveness variables. This observation points out that an inefficient fraction of the integrated system may cause unsatisfactory feelings among the employees. Due to the obtained results, the satisfaction level of the appraisal is having parallel motives with the major aims of the projected targets of the system, which is the main effectiveness indicator of the entire system. "Justice Perception" is one of the major elements which is influential on the entire perception of the satisfaction issue. On the previous researches, it has been declared that the satisfaction level about the appraisal is directly related with the "Justice Perception" of the employers. The findings of the research, verifies the relation between the two dimensins of justice which are, procedural and distributional justice and the satisfaction figures. This result shows that any lack of justice in the appraisal systems is likely to decrease the satisfaction levels of the employees. In the previous studies, it has been indicated that the knowledge of the appraisees about the appraisal system is related with their satisfaction levels. In the realized research findings, it was seen that this relation was related with the "Personal System Knowledge" perception of the appraisee which is a sub-factor of  "Perceived System Knowledge". Personal knowledge perception is a variable figure, which shows the knowledge of the related individual, regarding the concept of the appraisal system. A different sub-factor of this structure is the "General Knowledge Perception Variable" which shows the knowledge level of the appraisees about the appraisal system. This result also proves the importance of the correct "Appraisal Definition" which needs to be explained to the appraisees. The more the appraisees learn about the appraisal system, the higher appraisal satisfaction levels are reached by the appraisees. There are several limitations of the present study which should be noted. Since this study focused on a single appraisal system in one organization, generalizations regarding the results are somewhat limited. Additional research is needed which replicates the present findings using other appraisal systems in other organizations. This would provide additional evidence for understanding the characteristics of effective appraisal systems, which are acceptable to both managers and employees.  Keywords: Performance appraisal systems, perceptions and attitudes, effectiveness, satisfaction

Factors affecting managerial roles of Chief Information Officers

Yeni bilgi teknolojilerinin kuruluşlara kazandırabileceği rekabet üstünlüğü, teknoloji kullanımının yaygınlaşması ve kolaylaşması göz önüne alındığında bilgi veya teknolojinin etkin yönetilmesiyle elde edilebilir. Kuruluşların bilişim sistem ve teknolojilerinin yönetiminden, modern örgüt yapılanmalarında Bilişim Sistemleri Üst Düzey Yöneticileri (BSÜDY/Chief Information Officer-CIO) sorumludur. Bilişim Sistemleri Üst Düzey Yöneticisi’nin kaynaklarda geçen rolleri, örgütlerde bilişim teknolojisi ve sistemleri yönetiminin gelişim sürecini göstermesi açısından da önem arz etmektedir. Çeşitli ülkelerde yapılmış çalışmalarda, yöneticinin kişisel özellikleri, örgütteki yeri ve çalıştığı kuruluşun bilişim sistemleri gelişmişlik düzeyi ile rollerinin nasıl etkilendiği araştırılmıştır. Bu çalışmanın amacı da, yazın incelemesindeki modelden yola çıkarak, Bilişim Sistemleri Üst Düzey Yöneticisinin rollerini ve bu rolleri etkileyen faktörleri ortaya koymaktır. Araştırma modeli, Türkiye’de finans, sanayi ve kamu sektörlerinde görev yapan 130 Bilişim Sistemleri Üst Düzey Yöneticisi üzerinde test edilmiştir. Veriler, güncel yazın incelenerek hazırlanan bir soru formu aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Soru formunda yer alan ifade grupları, önceki çalışmalarda geçerliliği ve güvenilirliği sınanmış ölçekler temel alınarak geliştirilmiştir. Toplanan veriler, betimleyici faktör analizlerinden sonra regresyon analizi yapılarak incelenmiştir. Modelin içerdiği unsurlar arasındaki ilişkiler açığa çıkarılarak daha önce yapılmış çalışmalarla karşılaştırılmış, benzerlikler ve farklılıklar tanımlanmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Bilişim sistemleri, bilişim sistemleri üst düzey yöneticisi, bilişim sistemleri gelişmişlik düzeyi, bilişim sistemleri yönetim öncelikleri.The competitive advantage that new information technologies would bring into companies can be obtained through effective information technologies (IT) management, while technology use becomes more common and easier for all companies. Chief Information Officer (CIO) is in charge of managing information systems (IS) and information technologies (IT) in the modern organizational structure. The roles of chief information officer cited in the information systems management literature are very important as those roles also refer to the development stage of information systems/ information technologies management. First generation information systems managers were identified as data processing managers. Parallel to technological advancements the role of information systems managers evolved and second generation managers became design and implementation of information systems as well. Third generation managers became part of senior management in the organizations ands the last generation managers were identified as chief information officers and started to involve in strategic decision making processes. Several research studies on chief information officer roles were conducted in different countries by analyzing chief information officer?s personal characteristics, position in the organization and information technologies maturity level of the organization. Researchers found that internal factors related to information technologies management plays more important role than any other factor. Thus, internal effectiveness and similar concepts are prioritized and the managerial roles that focus on improvements in these concepts re-applied more than those related to strategic decisions and external roles. The aim of this study is to introduce chief information officer roles and the factors that affect chief information officer roles in Turkey by using the model cited in the literature. The research model was adapted from the model used by Gottschalk (2002) and tested on 130 chief information officers from finance, industry, and government sectors in Turkey. Research data was collected with a questionnaire prepared upon comprehensive literature review. The expression patterns of the questionnaire were based on the previous studies, in which their validity and reliability were already approved. The questionnaire consisted four sections: Personal characteristics and organizational factors, managerial roles scale adapted for chief information officers by Grover et al. (1993), technical roles scale by Computer Sciences Corporation (1996) and information systems maturity scale developed by Brancheau et al. (1996). The collected data was examined with the explanatory factor analysis followed by regression analyses. The relationships among the elements in the model were clearly stated and also compared with previous studies. Thus, the similarities and differences were described. The research findings indicated no significant relationship among personal characteristics of chief information officers and roles they prefer while fulfilling their tasks and responsibilities. Among organizational factors, the hierarchical level difference with chief information officer or other highest managerial position had significant impact on one of the roles. Other organizational factors did not affect the roles of chief information officers. These results indicate that personal and organizational factors do not have significant impact on managerial roles of chief information officers in Turkey and they are not fully able to contribute to the business processes by utilizing their personal differences. The impact of information systems maturity level was more significant comparing to personal and organizational factors. The main indicators of which role a chief information officer would assume were found to be information technologies efficiency level followed by information technologies maturity level and information technologies responsibility level. The high impact of information technologies related factors indicates that internal issues such as efficient management of information systems, roles and responsibilities remains priority for chief information officers. This situation also implies that organizations are currently overwhelmed with those internal factors and they could not fully utilize these systems as a part of strategic management decisions. Efficient use of information systems is a prerequisite for benefiting from their features as a competitive advantage factor. However, organizations are still struggling to achieve higher efficiency levels and contributions of information systems related decisions to strategic management of the organizations remains at lower levels. This finding is also supported by current participation of chief information officers to strategic decision making processes and committees. The result findings identified the chief information officer roles and the factors affecting these roles in Turkey. Analysis of results indicated that chief information officer roles and strategic importance of chief information officer position need to be emphasized more in modern organizations in Turkey. Keywords: Information systems, information technologies, information management, Chief Information Officer (CIO), information system maturity, chief information officer roles

Does primary brachial plexus surgery alter palliative tendon transfer surgery outcomes in children with obstetric paralysis?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The surgical management of obstetrical brachial plexus palsy can generally be divided into two groups; early reconstructions in which the plexus or affected nerves are addressed and late or palliative reconstructions in which the residual deformities are addressed. Tendon transfers are the mainstay of palliative surgery. Occasionally, surgeons are required to utilise already denervated and subsequently reinnervated muscles as motors. This study aimed to compare the outcomes of tendon transfers for residual shoulder dysfunction in patients who had undergone early nerve surgery to the outcomes in patients who had not.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 91 patients with obstetric paralysis-related shoulder abduction and external rotation deficits who underwent a modified Hoffer transfer of the latissimus dorsi/teres major to the greater tubercle of the humerus tendon between 2002 and 2009 were retrospectively analysed. The patients who had undergone neural surgery during infancy were compared to those who had not in terms of their preoperative and postoperative shoulder abduction and external rotation active ranges of motion.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the early surgery groups, only the postoperative external rotation angles showed statistically significant differences (25 degrees and 75 degrees for total and upper type palsies, respectively). Within the palliative surgery-only groups, there were no significant differences between the preoperative and postoperative abduction and external rotation angles. The significant differences between the early surgery groups and the palliative surgery groups with total palsy during the preoperative period diminished postoperatively (p < 0.05 and p > 0.05, respectively) for abduction but not for external rotation. Within the upper type palsy groups, there were no significant differences between the preoperative and postoperative abduction and external rotation angles.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In this study, it was found that in patients with total paralysis, satisfactory shoulder abduction values can be achieved with tendon transfers regardless of a previous history of neural surgery even if the preoperative values differ.</p

Properties of Symmetric Uclear Matter with Skyrme Iteractios

Symmetric nuclear matter properties such as binding energy, pressure, saturation density and incompressibility are investigated in the Skyrme Hartree-Fock model. A new set of Skyrme parameters for symmetric nuclear matter is obtained by the fitting of Variational Monte Carlo method results to density-dependent Skyrme type energy. The results obtained are in good agreement with those obtained with selected Skyrme parameter sets in the literature

Internatıonal Nuclear Nonprolıferatıon Efforts: Thorıum As a Vıable Alternatıve to Prevent Dıversıon

International nuclear nonproliferation efforts have been one of the most important agendas of international relations after the World War II. Since the first aim of nuclear energy was for the military purposes and destructive power of nuclear weapons were experienced in a wartime, it has been inevitable for great powers to go into an arms race to obtain nuclear weapons. However, nuclear energy is a kind of energy which can be utilized for peaceful purposes as well as military purposes. In this context, initiatives have been started to promote the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes such as medicine, agriculture and electricity generation in order to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Due to the dual use aspect of nuclear energy, certain measures have been developed in safety, security, and safeguards so that the opportunities offered for peaceful purposes are not diverted into military purposes. However, these measures are needed to be further strengthened in technical terms with regard to the nuclear power reactors, which are closely related to the nuclear fuel cycle. Because, using uranium as a nuclear fuel can facilitate diversion of peaceful use in certain stages of nuclear fuel cycle. Therefore, this thesis deals with the contribution of thorium as a nuclear fuel and its fuel cycle to the international nuclear nonproliferation regime and the mitigation of proliferation concerns.Uluslararası nükleer silahların yayılmasının önlenmesi çabaları İkinci Dünya Savaşı sonrası dönemde uluslararası ilişkilerin en önemli gündemlerinden biridir. Nükleer enerjinin ilk hedefinin askeri amaçlı olması ve nükleer silahların elde edildikten sonra yıkıcılığının savaş meydanında görülmesi sonucunda büyük güçlerin nükleer silahları elde etmek için bir yarışa girmeleri kaçınılmaz olmuştur. Ancak, nükleer enerji askeri kullanımın yanı sıra barışçıl amaçlarla da kullanılabilecek bir enerji türüdür. Bu bağlamda, nükleer silahların yayılmasının önlenmesi amacıyla nükleer enerjinin tıp, tarım ve elektrik üretimi gibi barışçıl amaçlarla da kullanımının yayılması çalışmaları başlamıştır. Nükleer enerjinin çift yönlü kullanım özelliği sebebiyle barışçıl amaçlar için sunulan imkânların askeri amaçlara dönüştürülmemesi için nükleer güvenlik, emniyet ve güvence konularında belirli önlemler geliştirilmiştir. Fakat bu önlemler nükleer yakıt çevrimi ile yakından ilgili olan nükleer güç reaktörleri konusunda teknik bağlamda daha da güçlendirilmeye ihtiyaç duymaktadır. Zira uranyumun yakıt olarak kullanılması nükleer yakıt çevriminde belirli aşamaların barışçıl kullanımdan silahlanmaya yönelimini kolaylaştırabilmektedir. Bu yüzden, bu tez toryumun yakıt olarak kullanılmasının ve bu amaçla geliştirilecek nükleer yakıt çevriminin nükleer silahların yayılmasının önlenmesi rejimine ve silahlanma endişelerinin azaltılmasına katkılarını ele almaktadır