The Formation of Ottoman Sufism and Eşrefoğlu Rumi: A 15th Century Shaykh Between Popular Religion and Sufi Ideals

This dissertation evaluates a transformative period in the history of the Ottoman State in which the processes of Islamization and Turkification coincided with the expansion and imperialization of the Ottoman polity. This study focuses on an Ottoman Sufi figure, Eşrefoğlu Rumi (?-1469), who benefited form this context, embarked upon a mystical path, and authored seminal works that shaped Ottoman Sufism for generations. This dissertation discusses Eşrefoğlu Rumi’s role in the construction of Islamic orthodoxy based in his Sufi ideals which he disseminated to an Anatolian and Balkan Turkish-speaking Ottoman audience. The significance of this dissertation is that it emphasizes the agency of individual scholars and saints in the making of Ottoman Islam while challenging the dichotomous categorizations such as “orthodoxy” vs. “heterodoxy” and “popular” and “high Islam.

Financial Development and Convergence Clubs

This paper studies the economic development process, measured by Gross Domestic Product (GDP), for a large panel of countries. We propose a methodology that identifies groups of countries (convergence clubs) that show similar GDP structures, while allowing for changes in club memberships over time. As a second step we analyze the short-run and long-run effects of financial development (measured by financial intermediary development and stock market development) on the GDP process, and the composition of the convergence clubs. We find that the club memberships are quite persistent, but still their compositions change substantially over time. In particular, several EU member countries and East Asian countries are found to belong to a higher GDP club in recent times compared to the beginning of the 1970s. In terms of the effects of financial development indicators on the GDP process, our results partially confirm the theoretical basis for different effects of financial development indicators in the short-run and the long-run. In the long-run, financial development is found to affect the countries’ GDP level positively. The short-run effects of financial development indicators however are found to be less clear, in the sense that we do not find a negative short-run effect of financial intermediary development on GDP levels, while the short-run effect of stock market development is found to be negative.economic growth;Markov chain models;convergence clubs;financial developments

Arendtiška Antigonės interpretacija: teisumu grįsta tironija

The aim of this article is to investigate the tyrannical similarity between Antigone and Creon through Hannah Arendt’s political philosophy. As Arendt claimed, tyranny firstly signals the end of the political through which men can share their natality. The very meaning of tyranny is the domination by absoluteness that ends deliberation among mortal beings. Antigone only focuses on the divine law, which is seen as absolute righteousness that precedes the law of the city, and so, she tends to ignore any other option on rightfulness. This article aims to show that not only Creon but also Antigone can be regarded as a tyrant, since Antigone tends to sublime her dedication to an infallible justice, causing her to deny any other claim on justice.Šio straipsnio tikslas – remiantis Hannah Arendt politine filosofija išnagrinėti Antigonės ir Kreonto panašumą tironiškumo požiūriu. Kaip teigia Arendt, tironija pirmiausia signalizuoja politiškumo, kuris įgalina žmones dalintis savo gimstamumu, pabaigą. Pati tironijos prasmė yra absoliutumo įsiviešpatavimas, užbaigiantis bet kokius mirtingų būtybių svarstymus. Antigonė žvelgia vien į dieviškąjį įstatymą ir laiko jį absoliučiu teisumu, kuris esąs pranašesnis už miesto teisę, todėl ji linkusi ignoruoti bet kokio kito teisumo galimybę. Šiuo straipsniu siekiama parodyti, kad tironu galima laikyti ne tik Kreontą, bet ir Antigonę, nes Antigonė aukština savo pasišventimą neklystamam teisingumui, taigi ji neigia bet kokį kitą teisingumo pagrindą

Vanishing Footprints: Place and Man’s Struggle for Endurance in the Works of Thomas Wolfe

Novelist Thomas Wolfe sought to develop a new tradition of writing which would faithfully capture the experience of Americans. His vivid portrayals of man in various places demonstrate the inherent dignity of man’s struggles as he strives to understand his position in his world. Through his aesthetic choices, Wolfe captured how man’s identity consists of the entirety of his experiences. His dedicated rendering—and inclusion—of seemingly inconsequential details exhibits the worth which these particulars—and the history associated with them – hold in the lives of the men who come into contact with them. This project seeks to explore Thomas Wolfe’s depictions of the urban landscape, the rural landscape, and the wandering spirit. The first chapter analyzes how, although the structure of the city may confirm man’s attempts at advancement, his confidence in the stability of his systematized lifestyle relies on a delusional denial of his limitations and the destabilizing forces against which he is powerless. Meanwhile the second chapter studies the conflict between man’s affiliation with the natural landscape of the countryside, due to his personal and ancestral bonds with the eternal earth, and his estrangement from others, which causes him to be haunted by loneliness. In focusing on the wandering spirit which characterizes Wolfe’s protagonists and their obsession with trains, the final chapter evaluates the tension inherent in man’s propensity to roam, which results simultaneously from his desire for liberation from the constraints of the predictable life as well as from his deprivation of a secure haven

Nomadic Subjectivity and Criticisizm of the Conception of Identity: a Post-Structural Reading of Rosi Braidotti

Rosi Braidotti, a prominent feminist philosopher, has contributed to the poststructuralist critique of identity with the concept of "nomadic subjectivity". The concept of nomadic subjectivity is an important reference in the critique of the structural process of identity. This concept is a kind of criticism that focuses on the possibility of transition among identities, rather than an anarchist attitude in the sense of rejecting identity. For Braidotti, identity has a structural functioning that prevents the metamorphosis of the subjectivity. By referring to the Deleuzian nomadic philosophy, Braidotti tries to open a new path for a transition among identities. For Braidotti, identity is not a notion that symbolizes the inter-subject hierarchy, but the contingent possibility of becoming a subject. The contingency of the identity, then, means that the notion of subject is not completed and has not a stable structure. This idea constitutes one of the obvious consensus between Braidotti and post-structural philosophy. This article aims to discuss the poststructuralist critiques of identity by focusing on Bradiotti's thoughts. The basic assertion of this article is that Braidotti's conceptualization of nomadic subjectivity has a poststructuralist content

Investigating causal attributions of success and failure on mathematics instructions of students in turkish high schools

AbstractAccording to cognitive psychologists, student beliefs about their probability and causes for success and failure greatly influence their academic achievement.The aim of this study is to investigate causal attributions of success and failure on mathematics instructions of students in Turkish high schools. A questionnaire composed of 5-point Likert type questions was administered to 96 last year students who were enrolled in some public schools of Istanbul. The findings revealed that some attributions most frequently were observed as follows: differences between some situations used in everyday life and mathematics, insufficiency of mathematical textbooks to meet the students’ needs, having the belief that mathematics is difficult due to student's previous experiences

An investigation on the friction losses between cylinder liner and piston rings

Historically, the engine crankcase has been made of gray cast iron due to that material's' high machinability, damping ability, thermal conductivity, and sensible cost. Despite these advantages and the long-term use of gray cast iron, the vehicle manufacturers predominately use cast aluminum as material of choice for the engine block due to aluminum’s density being almost a third of that of gray cast iron, and the aluminum engines have the same durability as gray cast iron while weighing considerably less. However, due to the low wear resistance of aluminum, efforts are needed to improve internal working surfaces such as the use of cast iron cylinder liners or the application of a protective coat is applied to the aluminum surface to increase its resistance. The purpose of this study is to examine which ring materials have the lowest friction with the Twin Wire Arc (TWA) aluminum cylinder liner. An Ansys simulation model accomplishes the experimental work. The steel ring material obviously had the lowest friction with twin wire arc spray aluminum cylinder liner as opposite to the cast iron material which was the worst

Artificial bee colony algorithm variants on constrained optimization

Optimization problems are generally classified into two main groups:unconstrained and constrained. In the case of constrainedoptimization, special techniques are required to handle withconstraints and produce solutions in the feasible space. Intelligentoptimization techniques that do not make assumptions on the problemcharacteristics are preferred to produce acceptable solutions to theconstrained optimization problems. In this study, the performance ofartificial bee colony algorithm (ABC), one of the intelligentoptimization techniques, is investigated on constrained problems andthe effect of some modifications on the performance of the algorithmis examined. Different variants of the algorithm have been proposedand compared in terms of efficiency and stability. Depending on theresults, when DE operators were integrated into ABC algorithm'sonlooker phase while the employed bee phase is retained as in ABCalgorithm, an improvement in the performance was gained in terms ofthe best solution in addition to preserving the stability of thebasic ABC. The ABC algorithm is a simple optimization algorithm thatcan be used for constrained optimization without requiring a prioriknowledge

Photometric, Spectroscopic and Orbital Period Study of Three Early Type Semi-detached Systems: XZ Aql, UX Her and AT Peg

In this paper we present a combined photometric, spectroscopic and orbital period study of three early-type eclipsing binary systems: XZ Aql, UX Her, and AT Peg. As a result, we have derived the absolute parameters of their components and, on that basis, we discuss their evolutionary states. Furthermore, we compare their parameters with those of other binary systems and with the theoretical models. An analysis of all available up-to-date times of minima indicated that all three systems studied here show cyclic orbital changes, their origin is discussed in detail. Finally, we performed a frequency analysis for possible pulsational behavior and as a result we suggest that XZ Aql hosts a {\delta} Scuti component.Comment: 40 pages, 16 figure