The tourism as a development investment in less developed regions: network behaviour of different cities

Tourism industry has been used to create new employment opportunities by increasing the business capacity and to provide economic growth in Turkey. But most of the tourism investments have been located in relatively more developed western and southern regions, which are ecologically sensitive coastal areas. It is known that there are important disparities between socio-economic development levels of different regions and tourism industry can be a planning investment in revitalizing the less developed areas. Turkey is a very large country, it has very much climatic regions and natural resources and as it is a place of meeting of many cultures and religions throughout the history, it owns a very rich cultural and archaeological inheritance. In this framework, it is possible to make tourism investments in such fields as urban tourism, sea-sun tourism, winter tourism or religion based tourism. The urban tourism that is able to attract tourists in any season has a very widespread potential in the country and provides us with substantial opportunities for the provinces with only one tourism option such as winter tourism. From 1980s so far, there has been discrete developments thanks to efforts of local governments, the association of tourism investors and the Ministry of Tourism. The Law for Tourism Encouragement enforced in 1982 defined the terms ‘tourism region’, ‘tourism area’ or ‘tourism center’ and provided such concepts with a legal definition and determined the systems of encouragement and means of application in these fields. In establishing these regions, areas and centers, the country has been taken as a whole with its natural, historical, archaeological, socio-cultural and tourism values as well as winter, hunting and water sports, health tourism and religion based tourism potential. But a means to create network by combining different types of tourism and creating a synergy in tourism sector by means of cooperation between the cities has not been followed so far. Combining these different types of tourism and providing cooperation between cities will create a synergy in tourism sector in less developed areas. This study tries to answer the question of which cities can be grouped as a network to cooperate based on tourism industry regarding their tourism potential. In this study using cluster analysis and factor analysis cities are grouped according to their socio-economic development levels. The results of cluster analysis indicate that western-southern, middle-northern, and eastern-southern regions are three major development levels. According to the factor analysis, the provinces grouped in 4 different levels of development in relation to different factors. These spatial settings in Turkey’s geography show as to which regions would respond the investments to be made in a shorter period. As the country is very large, the attractive points with a high tourism potential, other than those in the developed regions should be determined and a synergy between the settlement zones should be established in an effort to increase the productivity. It would be possible to coordinate the infrastructure investments to take place in the cities and to define the short, medium and long-term investments with this study.

Socrates and Gregory Vlastos : the power of elenchos in the Gorgias.

Gregory Vlastos claims that in the Gorgias Socrates is confident that the elenchos is the only and the final arbiter of moral truth. Traditionally, the object of elenchos has been viewed as not one of moral truth, but one of simply revealing to Socratic interlocutors confusions and muddles within themselves, thereby jarring their unquestioning adherence to some moral dogma. On Vlastos\u27 view, however, Socrates claims that he proves by elenchos that an interlocutor\u27s thesis is false. How can he, when in point of logic all he has proved is that the thesis is inconsistent with the agreed-upon premises in that argument whose truth Socrates does not undertake to establish? While Vlastos attempts to solve what he calls the problem of elenchos with all the ingenuity that we have come to expect from him, I argue that there are two major obstacles in his way. First, elenchos is not the only arbiter of moral truth in the Gorgias Socrates has a number of other reasons for believing certain things, but according to Vlastos, Socrates looks to elenchos, and to nothing but that, for the truth of his beliefs. I argue that, first, Vlastos\u27 characterization of elenchos is unsatisfactory, for on his criteria it is difficult to distinguish it from other kinds of arguments. This in turn seriously hampers a proper evaluation of elenctic arguments. I then show that at least in this dialogue Socrates has certain religious beliefs that he holds without relying on elenchos, and so elenchos is not the only avenue for acquiring moral knowledge. Under Vlastos\u27 correcting lenses, Socrates emerges also as a morally upright philosopher who would never knowingly conduct fallacious arguments. I argue that Socrates cheats at elenchos, and he does so in order to win over his interlocutors. I conclude that because of certain assumptions Vlastos makes about the character of the model philosopher and the model method, he exaggerates the strength of elenchos. If I am right, the Gorgias is witness to, not the power of elenchos as Vlastos would have us believe, but its limitations

Indoor air quality and early detection of mould growth in residential buildings: a case study

Mould growth affects one in three homes, and it is the biggest cause for complaints and litigations filed to the relevant authorities in Australia, while also significantly affecting the physical and psychological health of the building’s occupants. Indoor mould is caused by excessive dampness, resulting from poor architectural specification, construction and maintenance practices, as well as inappropriate behaviour of the occupants. The consequences range from early biodeterioration of building materials, requiring anticipated renovation works, to deterioration of the indoor environment, posing a serious threat to the building’s occupants. This study investigates indoor air quality (IAQ) and mould growth, providing a snapshot of the current IAQ of Australian residential buildings regarding air pollutants. It uses a case study representative of the typical Australian suburban home to investigate the effects of unnoticed mould growth. The results of the monitoring campaign indicate that buildings with a high concentration of fungal spores are also more likely to present poor IAQ levels, high concentrations of particulate matters (PM10 and PM2.5) and carbon dioxide (CO2). This research suggests the need for the development of early detection strategies that could minimise the health hazard to people, thereby preventing the need for any major renovations

Interaction between the international and the domestic: The case of the 1908 Constitutional Revolution in the Ottoman Empire.

This thesis focuses on the international-domestic interaction within the context of the 1908 Ottoman Constitutional Revolution and examines it in relation to the intemational dimensions of the social transformation of the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. So the focus of the research is on the extent and the mechanisms of the international constitution of political change within the Ottoman Empire in regard to the historical moment of 1908. The framework for the research question is the ongoing theoretical investigations of the scholars of International Relations into the possibility of using a historical sociological approach to conceptualize the reciprocal constitutive roles of the international and the domestic realms in engendering political transformations, whether in this longue duree or in sudden ruptures. As such, the thesis engages with the historical sociology tradition. The main objective is to enable a productive encounter between the case study itself and the general theory: the starting assumption is the impossibility of a purely national account of political changes of this scale. Given this framework, the thesis limits the examination of the case and the discussion of theory to the debate on the interaction between international and domestic dynamics. A creative understanding of how these two dynamics interact and co-constitute each other would contribute to the general analysis of political change within the field of International Relations. At the same time an analytical re-reading of the case study from this angle would locate this turning point in the history of the Ottoman Empire and of the Middle Eastern in a wider analytical context and thereby give it its due theoretical and historical weight

A Quantitative Investigation of the Factors Affecting Patterns of Occupation in a Suburban Campus: The Case of Ozyegin University in Istanbul

This study investigates the patterns of occupation of outdoor spaces on a suburban university campus and seeks to understand the factors that affect them. The comprehensive methodology applied in this research attempted to overcome some of the shortcomings of related studies by conducting a longitudinal study (behavioral mapping during a year, as opposed to a few days) and by objectively analyzing the associations of user behavior and physical attributes, and the configurational properties of the campus layout. The results show that campus users fail to capitalize on the potential offered by the spatial configuration of outdoor spaces because they are not supported by amenities for pedestrians such as seating, shading elements and catering facilities. Supporting campus outdoor spaces that have the configurational potential of bringing various types of users (students and staff) with amenities for pedestrians and service facilities would create a lively and sustainable campus for its users

The effects of geopolitical risks on tourism revenues of the Middle East and Asian countries

In this study; the effects of Geopolitical Risks (GPR) on tourism revenue of the Middle East and Asia countries were examined by using panel data analysis under the cross-section dependency for the 1995-2021 period. According to the results, GPR has negative effects on tourism income in China, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Korea. Relative prices have a positive effect on tourism income in Indonesia, Malaysia, S. Arabia and Thailand. There are causality relations between GPR to tourism income in China, Hong Kong, Israel, Malaysia, Philippines, Russia, Korea and Thailand. Relative prices affect the tourism income in China, Hong Kong, Israel, Malaysia, Thailand and Turkey

Do different socio-economic-demographic factors matter in COVID-19 related stay-at-home-tendencies across the US States?

This study investigates the potential impacts of different socio-economic-demographic (henceforth, SED) factors in COVID-19-related stay-at-home-tendencies (henceforth, COVID-19-SAHTs) in the US. This requires a state-level investigation rather than a country-level since the US states exhibit large SED differences from one another. To this aim, the K-Means Cluster analysis and the panel autoregressive distributed lag models are applied. The main empirical finding indicates that different SED factors in different US states matter in COVID-19-SAHTs. Additionally, people in the states which have more equal income distribution, higher rate of basic literacy, and less population density stay at their homes more during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings may provide some vital pre-information to the state policymakers about how much the people from different SED statuses will tend to comply with future COVID-19 state restrictions such as stay-at-home orders and others. Until the scientists create a proven vaccine for the coronavirus, states will most likely continue to issue some COVID-19 restrictions to reduce the spread of this pandemic

Which country after Greece? Sustainability of budget deficits in selected EU countries: A panel cointegration analysis with multiple structural breaks under cross-section dependence

The sustainability of budget deficits is one of the most important macroeconomic problems in countries. High public spending and insufficiency of public revenue are the main reasons for the collapsing of Greek, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Ireland economies. In this study, the sustainability of budget deficit has been examined for 17 EU countries by means of panel cointegration with multiple structural breaks under cross-section dependence, for the period of 1996-2012. At the end of the analysis; cross-section dependence was determined in these countries. Therefore, an economic shock that comes to one of these countries also affects the others. According to the long-run analysis, budget deficits of these countries are sustainable in weak form

The potential of harnessing real-time occupancy data for improving energy performance of activity-based workplaces

Currently, the available studies on the prediction of building energy performance and real occupancy data are typically characterized by aggregated and averaged occupancy patterns or large thermal zones of reference. Despite the increasing diffusion of smart energy management systems and the growing availability of longitudinal data regarding occupancy, these two domains rarely inform each other. This research aims at understanding the potential of employing real-time occupancy data to identify better cooling strategies for activity-based-working (ABW)-supportive offices and reduce the overall energy consumption. It presents a case study comparing the energy performance of the office when different resolutions of occupancy and thermal zoning are applied, ranging from the standard energy certification approach to real-time occupancy patterns. For the first time, one year of real-time occupancy data at the desk resolution, captured through computer logs and Bluetooth devices, is used to investigate this issue. Results show that the actual cooling demand is 9% lower than predicted, unveiling the energy-saving potential to be achieved from HVAC systems for non-assigned seating environments. This research demonstrates that harnessing real-time occupancy data for demand-supply cooling management at a fine-grid resolution is an efficient strategy to reduce cooling consumption and increase workers’ comfort. It also emphasizes the need for more data and monitoring campaigns for the definition of more accurate and robust energy management strategies

The necessity of new versions of bilateral trade balances : the nonlinear ARDL approach for the USA and Japan

This study aims to demonstrate the need for new forms of Bilateral Trade Balances (BTBs) for countries rather than relying on the traditional BTB ratio. The traditional ratio, which is based on total exports, cannot quantify a BTB based on its economic impact content because countries do not export only domestic goods produced within the country but also export goods already imported from other countries (re-export). On the other hand, domestic goods undergo a value-added process within a country, whereas re-exported goods do not. Therefore, the study proposes two new forms of BTBs: the production-related BTB based on domestic export and the non-production-related BTB based on re-export, for the USA with Japan. Empirical findings support the need to reformulate US BTBs since the impacts of income, real exchange rate, trade policy uncertainty, and the COVID-19 pandemic on these two new forms of BTBs are entirely different. Furthermore, the proposed methodology allows a country to identify the nature of its deficits, which is economically more crucial than just knowing its single trade deficit volumes. Therefore, with this methodology, policymakers can implement more sustainable and manageable trade policies at a lower cost