In memory of Assoc. Prof. Dr. İskender Hikmet

Doç. Dr. İskender Hikmet 29 Ekim 1964 yılında Lefkoşa’da doğdu. 1982 yılında Türk Maarif Koleji’ni bitirdi. 1986’da Fransa’daki Joseph Fourier Üniversitesi Fizik Bölümü’nden mezun oldu. 1988’de aynı üniversiteden fizik dalında yüksek lisans (M.Sc.) derecesi aldı. Doktorasını 1988–1991 yılları arasında Joseph Fourier Üniversitesi, Fizik Bölümü, Spektrometre laboratuarında tamamladı ve Atom Fiziği alanında doktora derecesi aldı. ..

Assessing the currency crises in Turkey

This study presents the significance of the currency crises, discusses the related literature and applies a model of economic vulnerability to Turkey during 1985Q2-2004Q2. The common approach in currency crisis literature is to focus on the performance of thresholds for a set of early warning indicators. Following the explanation of “Index of Speculative Pressure” (ISP), Granger causes of the ISP is discussed. The study shows that, current account/ GDP ratio, M2/international reserves ratio, real credit growth and current account/foreign direct investment ratio are Granger causes of the ISP at 1% level. Then by using Vector Auto Regression (VAR) model, the ISP index is forecasted. The study shows that the combination of VAR(1)+VAR(2)+VAR(5) models generate relatively better forecast values than all other single models. Finally the study estimates dynamic probit and logit models by using maximum likelihood to predict currency crises. It shows that logit model gives a better performance than the probit, for a better prediction of the probabilities of the Turkish currency crises. The most important contribution of this study is to show that the logit model has a very high performance in the prediction of Turkish currency crises. It can be used to foresee forthcoming currency crises. Also the forecast of the ISP (as a level) is giving very successful results. It is observed that the ISP and forecasted ISP values are almost moving together or very close to each other

Pharmacological Properties of <i>Genista sagittalis</i> L. (Fabaceae) Grown in Turkey

The genus Genista L. (Family: Fabaceae) is a plant having several traditional uses for treating common ailments such as diabetes, ulcer, and respiratory diseases. In this current study, the composition of essential oil and the biological activities of Genista sagittalis L. (Fabaceae) from Kocaeli: Yuvacık Dam Basin have been studied. A total of fourteen components were identified in the essential oil. The identified compounds belonged to straight-chain alkane, aromatic ether, and terpenoid derivatives. The antibacterial activity analyses demonstrated that G. sagittalis flower extract only had low activity against P. mirabilis and P. aeruginosa with MICs 1 to 2 mg/mL, as the peduncle extract showed strong anti-QS activity at 1.3 mg/mL. To the best of our knowledge, the current work is the first to report the antimicrobial and anti-quorum sensing activity of G. sagittalis growing in Turkey. Double-stranded DNA binding affinity investigations of the flower and peduncle ethanol extracts indicate that there are interactions with double-stranded DNA and related binding constants (Kb) were found as 1.97×103±0.37 and 3.68×102±0.44 for the flower and peduncle extract, respectively

Does convergence matter if it takes 100 years? Different scenarios of convergence

This paper attempts to show that the income gap between rich and poor countries cannot be eliminated with the current international policies. Different scenarios are discussed. It would take 130 years for the Congo, 203 years for Eritrea and 103 years for low-income countries to reach to the current average per capita income of Norway. To equalize the overall per capita income levels of high and low-income countries from now until the year 2020, the latter group would have to grow 20 percent. These values show that current economic policies are insufficient to create economic parity among the world's nations. To do so would require radical changes in current domestic and international economic policy

The ascent of money: a financial history of the world

The ascent of money: a financial history of the world, by Niall Ferguson, London, Penguin Books, 2009, v þ 442 pp., figures, tables, photos, index, £9.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-141-03548-

Future files: a brief history of the next 50 years, R. Watson. Nicholas Brealey Publishing, London (2010), v+324 pp., £ 9.99

The future is uncertain and the speed of technology is too high. As time elapses we observe large and deep changes in the world. Richard Watson, a futurist, has written a very interesting book on the trends that will shape the next 50 years. Although he named the book “future files” he claims that his intention is simply to reinterpret the present, to broaden perspectives and widen horizons, not to predict the future