What are the dimensions of thinking skills in Turkish literature: a content analysis study?

New world needs thinking generation. However, growing thinking generation is very difficult because there are many discrepancies in defining of thinking and thinking skills. Without defining thinking and its dimensions, it is nearly impossible to grow such generation. For having thinking generation, thinking and its dimensions should be described. In the past 20 years, there have been many different definitions with regard to thinking and thinking skills. But, three different approaches for defining thinking skills and needed basic cognitive operations were commonly accepted. Aim of this study whether these three approaches for defining thinking skills were accepted in Turkish literature or not. For this aim, 14 studies, selected from Turkish database, related to thinking skills were analyzed. According the content analysis results, Turkish literature follows these three movements for defining thinking skills except for belonging to specific areas.

Testing the SDG targets on water and sanitation using the world trade model with a waste, wastewater, and recycling framework

In this article, we employ an extended world trade model and rectangular choice of technology (WTM/RCOT) framework, which minimizes global factor costs subject to satisfying final demand and respecting region-specific factor constraints, to calculate the economic costs of achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for water and sanitation. We estimate how achieving these goals will affect factor use, trade balances, scarcity rents, and production in 19 regions of the world, drawing on an expanded database developed from the GTAP9 database, the developed model involves 64 technology columns and 74 rows of factors of production. On a theoretical level, this model contributes to the existing literature on the topic by using endogenous cost estimates that consider shifts in production and factor scarcity rents and by considering recycling and wastes within an input-output model, in which wastes can be modelled as input resources as well as waste outputs. We find that the additional factor costs of meeting the water and sanitation targets of the SDGs exceed US$100 billion annually, with a total cost of US$3.3 trillion from 2015 to 2030. These figures are similar to other recent works on the subject despite methodological differences. It also suggests that the worldwide SDG targets can be achieved with moderate costs relative to the total global GDP, especially in comparison to the high estimated cost of inaction. Predictably, in areas working toward water and sanitation SDGs (areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa, regions in South Asia, etc.), factor use costs increase, but not commensurately with the growth of coverage some regions, such as areas of South America, notably have higher factor use costs along in proportion to the coverage. Indeed, Sub-Saharan Africa, which needs the highest increase in coverage, will not likely have as large increases in factor uses and would barely get scarcity rents. In general, regions with higher SDG targets will require further trade, especially additional imports of inputs such as chemicals and energy products. This trade will increase factor earnings in factor rich regions such as the European Union, Japan, and Korea. © 2019 Elsevier B.V.This work was started having support by US National Science Foundation CNH grant # 1115025 , “Impacts of Global Change Scenarios on Ecosystem Services from the World's Rivers

DEVELOPING AND EVALUATING A WEB-BASED EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT SPATIAL DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEM

This dissertation proposes and evaluates a consolidated design methodology for web-based emergency management decision support systems (WEM-DSSs). The development of the proposed methodology draws upon a literature review which crosslinks substantive topics related to evolving theoretical paradigms in disaster research and the role of information systems within organizations, and competing approaches to the development of GIS and participatory decision support systems. As a conclusion of the literature review, it was suggested that a good software development methodology should be balanced between agility and discipline. Due to the nature of this research, a mixture of Extreme Programming and Capability Maturity Integration approaches with an emphasis on agility is proposed. Then the design of the proposed methodology is refined and tested through a case study that seeks to develop a WEM-DSS for the emergency managers working in Oklahoma. The methodology's effectiveness is mainly evaluated by investigator's ability to follow proposed methodological tasks, ability to involve sufficient user input and ability to follow proposed timeline.The findings of this research enhance our understanding of delivering geographic information to users, and drawing user input from emergency management communities. From a systems development point of view, this study shows that XP and CMMI are in fact compatible with each other. From an empirical viewpoint, the study shows a complete process of following a methodology that is implemented for developing a WEMDSS. Finally, this research delivers a technical product that is built upon user input. This product employs ArcGIS Silverlight API, Microsoft Silverlight and service oriented architectures

Restricting water withdrawals of the thermal power sector: An input-output analysis for the northeast of the United States

As water scarcity and pollution of sources become increasingly severe and widespread, competition over this resource intensifies. Unlike much of the rest of the world, thermal power plants in the US are the biggest users of water due to heavy reliance on once-through cooling technology. This cooling technology withdraws large amounts of water and discharges it back almost in its entirety but at higher temperatures. These water withdrawals are increasingly subjected to legislation intended to reduce the effects of thermal pollution. We utilize an interregional input-output model for quantifying the money costs and the shifts in the distribution of power production by state and by technology when withdrawals and discharges of fresh water are restricted. This model allows for the choice among alternative power generation technologies with different cost structures within each state. We analyze a Baseline scenario for 2010 and alternative scenarios that impose constraints on water withdrawals and inter-state power transmission. Based on an annual analysis, we conclude that this region can satisfy its electric power requirements while fully complying with legislated water restrictions at moderate cost by compensating the curtailment of output from some plants by otherwise unutilized capacities of other plants in the region. When we revisit the analysis using a monthly time step, however, sharp seasonal variations exhibit a strong impact on economic costs. In the summer months, intra-state transmission does not suffice, and regional demand cannot be met in the absence of substantial inter-state transmission. © 2018This study is based on work supported by U. S. National Science Foundation Award No. 1049181 , “A Regional Earth System Model of the Northeast Corridor: Analyzing 21st Century Climate and Environment.

Adaptation of Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Towards Teaching Thinking Skills Scale Into English

Teaching thinking skills is core of the curriculum in many cultures. Although curricula have mutual points, the results were different from each other. Having different results of teaching thinking curriculums applied in different countries indicates importance of personal differences of teachers. Defining level of teacher’s self-efficacy makes a contribution to determining success level of curriculum. Developing a global scale contributes both researchers and practitioner while teaching thinking. The aim of this study is to adapt Teachers’ Self-efficacy towards Teaching Thinking Skills Scale (TSTS), developed in Turkish, into English. The scale consists of 20 items. Each item has 5 point Likert type. It has 3 factors as Design, Practice and Academic Competence. For this purpose, firstly linguistic equivalence was analyzed. For linguistic equivalence, both versions of the scale were applied to 28 candidate teachers of English with 20 day intervals. In the second step, Confirmatory Factor Analyses was administrated to data taken from 144 native English teachers. After the analysis, good level fitting indices were found. Cronbach Alpha coefficient value is .94. Construct validity (Convergence and Discriminating validity) study on correlations between sub-dimensions and average explained variance value has good sufficient level. Scale items were found discriminating. Results showed that English version of the scale was statistically valid and reliable

Kendini Dindar Olarak Tanımlayan Gençlerin Aile Algısı Üzerine Sosyolojik Bir Araştırma: Afyonkarahisar İli Örneği

Bu araştırmanın temel amacı, çeşitli açılardan değişen ve dönüşen yaşam koşullarının, herhangi bir dini grupla bağı olan ve kendisini dindar olarak tanımlayan gençlerin aile algısında meydana getirmiş olduğu değişimi ortaya çıkarmaya çalışmaktır. Bundan dolayı katılımcıların dindarlıkları test edilmemiştir, sadece evlilik ve aile konusundaki fikirlerinin ortaya koyulması amaçlanmıştır. Amaç dikkate alınarak araştırmaya herhangi bir dini grupta yetişen veya ilişkisi olan (veya dini grupla bağlantısı olan) ve dindar bir kimliğinin olduğunu kabul eden katılımcılar dâhil edilmiştir. Bu bağlamda dindarlıkları göz önünde bulundurularak nasıl bir evlilik ve eş istedikleri, nasıl bir aile kurmak istedikleri saptanmaya çalışılmış ve elde edilen sonuçlar, İslam dininin bazı kabulleri dikkate alınarak sosyolojik olarak çeşitli açılardan tartışılmıştır. Araştırmanın örneklemini Afyonkarahisar İli’nde herhangi bir dini grupla irtibatı olan ve kendisini dindar olarak tanımlayan, 17-29 yaş aralığındaki 125 kadın, 125 erkek olmak üzere toplam 250 genç oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmacı tarafından hazırlanan anketler katılımcılara ulaştırılmış ve sonuçlar bilimsel bir şekilde analiz edilerek kullanılmıştır. Analizler sonucunda; kendisini dindar olarak tanımlayan katılımcıların büyük bir çoğunluğunun din-gelenek ve modernlik üçgeninde sıkışıp kaldığı tespit edilmiştir. Araştırmaya katılan katılımcıların büyük çoğunluğu, üniversite gençlerinden oluşmaktadır. Dolayısıyla gençlerin üniversitelerde katılmış oldukları her yeni ortam, onların duygu, düşünce ve davranışlarında da bir değişimi de beraberinde getirmektedir. Üniversite ortamı, gençlere daha geniş kapsamlı ve çok yönlü bir ortamda sosyalleşebilme imkânı sağlamaktadır. Her üniversite gencinin belli bir habitusu bulunmaktadır ve katıldığı her alanda sahip olduğu, sosyal, kültürel, ekonomik ve sembolik sermayesini kullanmaktadır. Fakat gençler, girdikleri alanın (oyunun) kurallarına göre sahip olduğu sermaye ile bir çatışmaya girebilmekte ve sorgulayabilmektedir. Daha da ötesi sahip olduğu sermayesinden taviz vermeyi bile göze alarak herkes gibi bir yaşam sürmeye çalışabilmektedir. Çalışmamıza katılan katılımcıların büyük bir kısmının, Janmohammed (2018) tarafından kaleme alınan “M Nesli Yeni Müslüman Gençlik” kitabında belirtilen gençlik tipi ile benzerlikleri bulunduğu söylenebilir. Kitapta belirtilen M Nesli, hem pop müzik dinleyen, hem dans eden, hem yırtık pantolon giyen, hem namaz kılıp oruç tutan bir gençliktir. Hem batı kültürünü (özellikle giyim kuşamda) hem de kendi İslami değerlerini bir arada yaşayan bir gençliktir. Yani her iki kültürden de izler taşımaktadır. Araştırmada elde edilen bulgular neticesinde araştırmaya katılan katılımcıların çoğunluğunun da M Nesli’ne doğru evrildiğini söylemek yanlış olmayacaktır. Örneğin, çalışmadan elde edilen veriler neticesinde katılımcıların % 6,0 oranında eş cinsel evlilikleri normal karşıladıkları tespit edilmiştir. Elde edilen en çarpıcı sonuç ise “eşcinsel evlilikler hakkında ne düşünüyorsunuz? şeklinde sorduğumuz soruya yönelik almış olduğumuz cevaplar olmuştur. Bu soruya kadın katılımcıların, %85,6’sı (107) “doğru bulmuyorum, % 9,6’sı (12) “saygı duyulmalı”, %4,0’ı (5) “fikrim yok”, % 0,8’i (1) “diğer” şeklinde cevaplar vermişlerdir. Erkek katılımcıların ise %92,0’ı (115) “doğru bulmuyorum”, %2,4’ü (3) “saygı duyulmalı”, %2,4’ü (3) “fikrim yok”, %3,2’si (4) “diğer” şeklinde cevaplar vermişlerdir. İslam’ın eşcinsellik meselesine bakışı tartışmaya mahal bırakmayacak biçimde olumsuzdur. Ancak kendisini dindar olarak tanımlayan gençlerin % 6’sının eşcinsel evliliğe saygı duyması, üzerinde düşünülmesi ve araştırılması gereken bir konu olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır. Bu çalışmadaki amaç, M Nesli’ni veya görüşülen kesimin eleştirilmesinden ziyade ortada olan bir değişimi ve neticesinde oluşan karma ve yeni kimlik tiplerinin olduğunu ortaya koymak olmuştur. Başka bir ifadeyle olgunun, durum tespitinin yapılması amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmadan genel olarak elde edilen veriler, aile kurumunun önemini koruduğunu göstermektedir. Araştırmadan elde edilen sonuçlar, aile hayatı kurma isteğinin ve ebeveyn olma heyecanının tam anlamıyla yitirilmediğini göstermektedir. Evliliğe uzak duran katılımcıların %48,0’ı çalışmadığını, %38,0’ı ise çoğunlukla öğrenci olduklarını ve bu tür nedenlerden dolayı evlenmeye ve aile kurmaya sıcak bakmadıklarını dile getirmektedirler. Özellikle ekonomik anlamda bir bağımsızlıkları olmadığı için evliliğe uzak duran gençlerin bu ve buna benzer sorunları çözüldüğünde fikirlerinin değişebileceğini söylemek mümkündür. Bunun yanı sıra aile kurumuna yönelik algı ve önemin önemli bir dönüşüm içerisinde olduğu gerçeği de göz ardı edilmemelidir

Evaluation of geoimputation strategies in a large case study

Background: Health data usually has missing or incomplete location information, which impacts the quality of research. Geoimputation methods are used by health professionals to increase the spatial resolution of address information for more accurate analyses. The objective of this study was to evaluate geo-imputation methods with respect to the demographic and spatial characteristics of the data. Methods: We evaluated four geoimputation methods for increasing spatial resolution of records with known locational information at a coarse level. In order to test and rigorously evaluate two stochastic and two deterministic strategies, we used the Texas Sex Ofender registry database with over 50,000 records with known demographic and coordinate information. We reduced the spatial resolution of each record to a census block group and attempted to recover coordinate information using the four strategies. We rigorously evaluated the results in terms of the error distance between the original coordinates and recovered coordinates by studying the results by demographic sub groups and the characteristics of the underlying geography. Results: We observed that in estimating the actual location of a case, the weighted mean method is the most superior for each demographic group followed by the maximum imputation centroid, the random point in matching sub-geographies and the random point in all sub-geographies methods. Higher accuracies were observed for minority populations because minorities tend to cluster in certain neighborhoods, which makes it easier to impute their location. Results are greatly afected by the population density of the underlying geographies. We observed high accuracies in high population density areas, which often exist within smaller census blocks, which makes the search space smaller. Similarly, mapping geoimputation accuracies in a spatially explicit manner reveals that metropolitan areas yield higher accuracy results. Conclusions: Based on gains in standard error, reduction in mean error and validation results, we conclude that characteristics of the estimated records such as the demographic profle and population density information provide a measure of certainty of geographic imputation. Keywords: Geo-imputation, Address data, Coarse resolution, Census data, DemographicsThis work was supported by The Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology, Grant No. HR16-048. Article processing charges funded in part by University of Oklahoma Libraries.Yes"International Journal of Health Geographics operates a single-blind peer-review system, where the reviewers are aware of the names and affiliations of the authors, but the reviewer reports provided to authors are anonymous.

Çankırı'da sosyo-ekonomik yapı ve bazı topografik değişkenler arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi.

This study aims to develop a method to investigate the relationship between socio-economic status of village settlements and some topographic variables using geographical information systems (GIS) and spatial statistical methods. The study area is Çankiri province, a mountainous region that lays at the northeast of Ankara. 331 villages represented by areal units are used in this study. 195 variables are used to extract a single socio-economic status indicator. First, all the variables are divided under three groups, namely economic, social and service. Principal Components Analysis (PCA) is used to construct an index indicating socio-economic status. The parameters that represent natural environment are; mean elevation, mean slope, mean aspect and the ratio of high quality soil in the total area, for each settlement unit. The data is visualized by choropleth, cartogram and 3D techniques. Then it is explored by using correlograms, spatial moving averages and geographically weighted regression (GWR). Finally linear non-spatial regression and spatial regression methods are utilized in order to establish a relation between the socio-economic status and environmental parameters.M.S. - Master of Scienc