Effect of Non-Technical Dimensions of Service Quality on “Satisfaction”, “Loyalty”, and “Willingness to Pay More” of the Customers: the Case of Georgian Internet Service Providing Companies

The aim of this paper is to measure the effects of non-technical dimensions (Empathy, Responsiveness, Assurance, Reliability, and Tangibles) on “satisfaction”, “loyalty”, and “willingness to pay more” of the internet service consuming customers. In this concept, a survey questionnaire was conducted on the population that utilizes the internet service of any provider. The results were evaluated by regression analysis IBM SPSS 20. It has been observed that Empathy, Responsiveness, and Assurance have significant effect on the satisfaction of the internet service consuming customers and satisfaction has significant effect on the loyalty of the internet service consumers. Finally, customers had willingness to pay more when they are satisfied and loyal, respectively.&nbsp

PRESERVICE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS CONCERNING THE MULTIFUNCTIONALITY OF AGRICULTURE IN THEIR MIND MAPS

This study aimed at revealing the preservice teachers’ mental images about the concept of agriculture and the functions of agriculture contains through mind maps. The images of a total of 60 Mind Maps were obtained by drawing technique. Mind maps were examined by content analysis in MAXQDA© qualitative data analysis program. As a result of analyses performed by utilizing the agricultural literacy themes, it appeared that the images examined in mind maps were under eight main themes viz ecology, food safety and health, food processing, food production and energy, marketing and distribution, culture, geography and climate, economy and politics, science, technology and engineering. While it was seen that descriptions concerning the food areas and ecology theme were at a level that could be regarded as important, preservice teachers did not produce enough images on economy and marketing network issues.    Article visualizations

Evaluation of the Possible Socio – Economic Effects of Dam Projects on People Living on Agricultural Activities: The Case of Laleli Dam in Turkey

It was aimed in the scope of the present study to evaluate the socio – economic structures of people living in the project area of Laleli Dam, whose life style is expected to change with the application of the project and to determine to what extents and size the project may affect these people using Rapid Rural Appraisal technique. Method of the study involves surveying, meeting people, asking questions, listening to their responses and the talks about the solutions and opportunities. Socioeconomic structures of the people living in the study area tried to be determined using also a questionnaire addition to the evaluation meetings. Results obtained from the study showed that total number of people to be affected by the project may be 2.273 among whom 1560 is expected to be affected directly. Average expected household expropriation price to come from the project was determined in the villages included in the project area to be 92.374 Turkish Liras (TL). It was concluded in the study that it will not be possible for people to be affected directly by the project to lead or reconstitute their life and the order they have been sustaining since they were born in the same area anymore through the expropriation price they will be given. Keywords: Dam construction, communities, social costs, socio-economic impact, livelihood

Determining the Factors Affecting Farmers’ Decision on Organic Livestock

In this study, the objective was to determine the factors affecting farmers’ decisions on organic livestock. Within this scope, the Gümüşhane province, in which one of the major organic livestock projects has been carried out, was taken into the focus of attention for this study. The data of the study was obtained from 134 surveys based on census and focusing on farmers doing conventional animal breeding and possessing 25 or more cattle. The data obtained were used in predicting the Logit Model. In the model, it was determined that the inclination to transition to organic animal breeding in institutions where the rate of benefiting from animal breeding supports and the rate of meeting forage requirements from their own are high and besides where the rate of using industrial feed is low. As a result, it was recommended that the government support for forage crops, which are already within the current support policies, should be increased on yearly basis. This will have a positive effect on the decision of the farmers to choose organic livestock. This support is also important in terms of carrying out livestock activities in more profitable and technical way

Reduced order modeling of infinite dimensional systems from frequency response data

Ankara : The Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering and The Graduate School of Engineering and Science of Bilkent University, 2014.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2014.Includes bibliographical references leaves 55-58.In this thesis, a system identification method using frequency response data is studied. Identification method is applied to various types of distributed parameter systems, in particular flexible structures. One of the challenging tasks in the control of flexible structures is the estimation of the dominant modes (location of resonant frequencies and associated damping coefficients). In the literature, there are several studies where transfer functions of flexible structures are derived from PDEs (Partial Differential Equations); these are infinite dimensional models. In this study, a numerical method is proposed to identify the dominant flexible modes of a flexible structure with an input/output delay. The method uses a frequency domain approach (frequency response data) to estimate the resonating frequencies and damping coefficients of the flexible modes, as well as the amount of the time delay. A sequential NLLS (Non-Linear Least Squares) curve fitting procedure is adopted. Instead of optimizing over all available data collected on a frequency interval, a data selection scheme that increases the amount of data at each step is followed. Selecting relevant parts of data and optimizing sequentially increasing number of coefficients in every step is the essential part idea behind this approach. The optimization problem solved reduces to a curve fitting problem. It is illustrated that such a Newtonian optimization method has the capability of finding the parameters of a reduced order transfer function by minimizing a cost function involving nonlinearities such as exponential and rational terms. Further model reduction techniques can be applied by analyzing Hankel singular values of the resulting transfer function. Comparisons with other methods solving similar problems are illustrated with examples. Simulation results demonstrate efficiency of the proposed algorithm.Demir, OkanM.S

DESIGNING A FORECAST MODEL FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH OF JAPAN USING COMPETITIVE (HYBRID ANN VS MULTIPLE REGRESSION) MODELS

Artificial neural network models have been already used on many different fields successfully. However, many researches show that ANN models provide better optimum results than other competitive models in most of the researches. But does it provide optimum solutions in case ANN is proposed as hybrid model? The answer of this question is given in this research by using these models on modelling a forecast for GDP growth of Japan. Multiple regression models utilized as competitive models versus hybrid ANN (ANN + multiple regression models). Results have shown that hybrid model gives better responds than multiple regression models. However, variables, which were significantly affecting GDP growth, were determined and some of the variables, which were assumed to be affecting GDP growth of Japan, were eliminated statistically

Teknoloji, Örgüt Yapısı ve Performans Arasındaki İlişkiler Üzerine Bir Araştırma

The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among technology and organizational structure and organizational performance. A moderator analysis was conducted on the data set obtained from 187 managers of large companies. The results of the analysis in which technology was used as a moderator variable show the existence of the direct influences of technology and organizational structure on the organizational performance. On the other hand, the hypothesis that the interaction of technology and structure has a significant effect on the organizational performance has not been proven.Bu çalışmanın amacı, teknoloji ve örgüt yapısı arasındaki ilişkilerin örgüt performansını etkileyip etkilemediğinin araştırılmasıdır. Araştırma verileri İstanbul ilinde faaliyet göstermekte olan büyük ölçekli işletmelerin yöneticilerinden elde edilmiştir. Elde edilen toplam 187 adet veriye moderatör (ılımlaştırma) analiz tekniği uygulanmıştır. Teknolojinin bir moderatör değişken olarak kullanıldığı analizde; analiz sonuçları, örgüt yapısı ve teknolojinin performans üzerindeki direkt etkisini doğrularken, bu değişkenlerin etkileşiminin performans üzerindeki etkisine destek sağlamamıştır

Teknoloji, Örgüt Yapısı ve Performans Arasındaki İlişkiler Üzerine Bir Araştırma

The main purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among technology and organizational structure and organizational performance. A moderator analysis was conducted on the data set obtained from 187 managers of large companies. The results of the analysis in which technology was used as a moderator variable show the existence of the direct influences of technology and organizational structure on the organizational performance. On the other hand, the hypothesis that the interaction of technology and structure has a significant effect on the organizational performance has not been proven.Bu çalışmanın amacı, teknoloji ve örgüt yapısı arasındaki ilişkilerin örgüt performansını etkileyip etkilemediğinin araştırılmasıdır. Araştırma verileri İstanbul ilinde faaliyet göstermekte olan büyük ölçekli işletmelerin yöneticilerinden elde edilmiştir. Elde edilen toplam 187 adet veriye moderatör (ılımlaştırma) analiz tekniği uygulanmıştır. Teknolojinin bir moderatör değişken olarak kullanıldığı analizde; analiz sonuçları, örgüt yapısı ve teknolojinin performans üzerindeki direkt etkisini doğrularken, bu değişkenlerin etkileşiminin performans üzerindeki etkisine destek sağlamamıştır

The relationship between physical activity and polypharmacy with Ikigai in a population

The aim: The Japanese word “ikigai” indicates “something to live for” and “having a purpose in life”. Ikigai or well-being, has been associated with many positive outcomes in the physical and mental health of elderly people. In this study, the relationship between ikigai and level of physical activity and polypharmacy was examined in a Turkish population. Material and methods: Both telephonic interviews and face-to-face interviews were conducted with 307 participants (59.2 % women) who completed the Ikigai-9 Turkey Scale and provided demographic information. Results: Correlations between groups (polypharmacy vs. non-polypharmacy) were analyzed with an independent t-test and analysis of variance. The means of the ikigai scores were statistically significant in the polypharmacy (24.04±8.72) and non-polypharmacy 32.64±7.53) groups (p<0.05). The number of drugs used was negatively correlated with duration of exercise per week (1.32±1.82, correlation coefficient = 0.538, p<0.05). Conclusions: The level of ikigai was negatively correlated with polypharmacy and positively correlated with duration of physical activity. An individual’s ikigai should be assessed by healthcare providers to maximize positive outcomes later in lif

The roles of personality traits, AI anxiety, and demographic factors in attitudes towards artificial intelligence

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction on 07/12/2022, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/10447318.2022.2151730The present study adapted the General Attitudes toward Artificial Intelligence Scale (GAAIS) to Turkish and investigated the impact of personality traits, artificial intelligence anxiety, and demographics on attitudes toward artificial intelligence. The sample consisted of 259 female (74%) and 91 male (26%) individuals aged between 18 and 51 (Mean = 24.23). Measures taken were demographics, the Ten-Item Personality Inventory, the Artificial Intelligence Anxiety Scale, and the General Attitudes toward Artificial Intelligence Scale. The Turkish GAAIS had good validity and reliability. Hierarchical Multiple Linear Regression Analyses showed that positive attitudes toward artificial intelligence were significantly predicted by the level of computer use (β = 0.139, p = 0.013), level of knowledge about artificial intelligence (β = 0.119, p = 0.029), and AI learning anxiety (β = −0.172, p = 0.004). Negative attitudes toward artificial intelligence were significantly predicted by agreeableness (β = 0.120, p = 0.019), AI configuration anxiety (β = −0.379, p < 0.001), and AI learning anxiety (β = −0.211, p < 0.001). Personality traits, AI anxiety, and demographics play important roles in attitudes toward AI. Results are discussed in light of the previous research and theoretical explanations