Restructuring reforms in Turkish teacher education: Modernization and development in a dynamic environment

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The paper examines the effectiveness of recent reforms in teacher education in Turkey, specifically the restructuring of programmes in university faculties of education. It first, briefly, sets the reforms of the 1990s in an historical context, prior to the 1997 Act which increased the length of compulsory schooling from 5 to 8 years, and the 1998 restructuring of faculties of education. It considers the national need for the restructuring of teacher education and the issues involved. The thrust of the paper is a study of how teacher educators across the country perceive both the changes and their effect on the quality of teacher education, methodology as a discipline, school partnerships, and relationships with the Ministry of National Education. r 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

New Physics Effects in B→K(∗)ννB \to K^(*) \nu \nu Decays

We present a model-independent analysis of rare B decays, $B \to K^{(*)} \nu \nu$. The effect of possible new physics is written in terms of dimension-6 four-fermi interactions. The lepton number violating scalar- and tensor-type interactions are included, and they induce $B \to K^{(*)} \nu \nu ({\bar \nu} {\bar \nu})$ decays. We show systematically how the branching ratios and missing mass-squared spectrum depend on the coefficients of the four-fermi interactions.Comment: 20 pages with 7 figure

Teacher education accreditation in Turkey: The creation of a culture of quality

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Turkey’s experience in developing and piloting accreditation criteria and national standards for teacher education is examined. The full implementation of an accreditation process for teacher education programs was not completed within the time of the development project. However, the effort to do so encouraged the formation of a ‘quality culture’ in the faculties of education. The paper discusses what took place and analyses the later response of teacher educators to the introduction of accreditation criteria and the way in which they were introduced. Educators largely welcomed national standards and accreditation, but wished to have flexible means of implementation

Organization of Multinational Activities and Ownership Structure

We develop a model in which multinational investors decide about the modes of organization, the locations of production, and the markets to be served. Foreign investments are driven by market-seeking and cost-reducing motives. We further assume that investors face costs of control that vary among sectors and increase in distance. The results show that (i) production intensive sectors are more likely to operate a foreign business independent of the investment motive, (ii) that distance may have a non-monotonous effect on the likelihood of horizontal investments, and (iii) that globalization, if understood as reducing distance, leads to more integration

Curriculum Reform in Turkish Teacher Education: Attitudes of Teacher Educators towards Change in an EU Candidate Nation

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Educational development is one way through which Turkey enhances progress towards its social goals and prepares itself for European Union membership. A major effort to upgrade the Turkish educational system was made through a multi-phased comprehensive reform of the sector introduced during the 1990s. One part of this reform, perhaps most crucial to the long-term effectiveness of other developments in education, was a transformation of the approach to teacher education. This paper utilizes recently conducted research to assess the nature and extent of that reform as well as identifying the factors which enhanced its effectiveness

Leptonic Flavor and CP Violation

We discuss how neutrino oscillation experiments can probe new sources of leptonic flavor and CP violation.Comment: 8 pages, latex, no figures. Invited talk given at KAON 2001, Pisa, Italy, June 12 - 17, 200

Assessment of Connections Between Knowledge- Based Economy Characteristics and Selected Macroeconomic Categories in the European Union's Countries by Means of Panel Models

The aim of the article is to analyze the impact of knowledge-based economy variables on the selected macroeconomic categories - the share of total investments in GDP and the employment rate- in European Union's countries in the years 2000-2007, conducted with application of panel models.Celem artykułu jest analiza wpływu zmiennych opisujących gospodarkę opartą na wiedzy na podstawowe kategorie makroekonomiczne - udział całkowitych inwestycji w PKB i stopę zatrudnienia - w krajach Unii Europejskiej (z podziałem na kraje UE-15 i nowe kraje członkowskie UE) w latach 2000-2007, przeprowadzona w oparciu o modele panelowe

CP Violation in \tau ->\nu\pi K_S and D->\pi K_S: The Importance of K_S-K_L Interference

The $B$-factories have measured CP asymmetries in the $\tau\to\pi K_S\nu$ and $D\to K_S\pi$ modes. The $K_S$ state is identified by its decay to two pions at a time that is close to the $K_S$ lifetime. Within the Standard Model and many of its extensions, the asymmetries in these modes come from CP violation in $K^0-\bar{K}^0$ mixing. We emphasize that the interference between the amplitudes of intermediate $K_S$ and $K_L$ is as important as the pure $K_S$ amplitude. Consequently, the measured asymmetries depend on the times over which the relevant decay rates are integrated and on features of the experiment.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Constraining New Physics with the CDF Measurement of CP Violation in B→ψKSB \to \psi K_S

Recently, the CDF collaboration has reported a measurement of the CP asymmetry in the $B\to\psi K_S$ decay: $a_{\psi K_S}=0.79^{+0.41}_{-0.44}$. We analyze the constraints that follow from this measurement on the size and the phase of contributions from new physics to B-\barB mixing. Defining the relative phase between the full $M_{12}$ amplitude and the Standard Model contribution to be $2\theta_d$, we find a new bound: \sin2\theta_d\gsim-0.6 (-0.87) at one sigma (95% CL). Further implications for the CP asymmetry in semileptonic B decays are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, harvmac, 3 figures; v2: a discussion of new physics effects on tree level decays added; references added; accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter