Leaving the bubble

Last three decades witnessed fast growing of the cities in Turkey. After many dramatic changes in the physical and social environment as the consequences of the disproportionally increasing population by the migrations, the cities leaded the problems in the transport, safety and other facilities (lack of auto parking, relaxing, sport and divers leisure activities) Regarding to these facts, the locals had unavoidably alienation and left the city centre to live in the ‘bubbles’: the big residences, blocks or villas in the isolated sites of the city’s outskirts. Thus, especially the metropolitan cities were transformed from a location to a consumed space. This seeking of ‘bubble’ was manipulated by the politics which emphasized the building constructions under the title ‘urban renovation’. Whereas the cultural heritage became under threat because of the lack of belonging, the basic concept of the common city life which was providing the cultural interaction with the environment became limited. This presentation focuses on the cultural impact of Taksim Gezi Park movement. According to the observations in Izmir and ethnography among Izmir Festival participants which was conducted in the same period of the manifestations, the awareness of place process begins which would be later the memories of the participants and make new senses within the historical places and public spaces, specially parks and squares. The participants who leave their ‘bubbles’ to protest the government for their individual rights have a collective experience with the divers groups. This experience which provides a reconnection to the city make them learnt fundamental citizenship components: to conceive the meaning of public area and to take responsibility of his environment. As a result, Taksim Gezi Park movement has become not only a political and social case, but also a cultural process in which the individuals ‘taste’ citizenship values; not to live only in its own pure and the comfortable bubble, but to learn live with the diversity and interact responsibly with the location

International competitiveness of Turkish agriculture: A case for horticultural products

International Relations/Trade,

The memory places and color : the methods and practices of color use in ethnographic research

Nowadays art festivals engage more to organize their events in unusual places. Either for the sake of city branding or a pure cultural memory action, a performance might be set in a forgotten memory place. From the moment that a festival participant enters to a sensitive site, even though s/he ignores the past, s/he involves in a process of contemplation about the hidden trauma(s). The place which is distinguished sharply by a comfortable concert hall becomes one of the actors of the event and the participant questions a past that s/he hasn’t been strongly connected. Thus, the individual is not only aroused by the performance itself and the information in the booklets but also physical environment has an affect. Apt to the intensive emotions during the performance, the sounds, smells and some visuals in the memory place reveal a past which remained blurred in the collective memory before. This article handles colors among those triggering objects of the physical environment. An anthropological review is proposed to focus on the sense of colors tied closely with memory. Firstly some examples from visual art works in which colors are implemented explicitly to refer to the memory of a trauma and place. Secondly the findings are construed with the art festivals ‘coming back’ to memory places. Considering that colors are common visuals, their senses vary and circulate in daily life between universal codes and local discourses. They shape constantly the sense making process of an individual. While they are unfolded, the embedded meanings and their stories might unlock the stillness of the memory places

Decision Support Models For The External Variety Of Configurable Products

The decision of what configurations of a product to offer is a difficult one for marketing and sales departments. In this study, we developed decision support models that can help decision makers when using operational models to manage external variety of configurable products. Our main objective is to reduce the number of product variants offered in a proper way so that inventory and demand models do not suffer from the curse of dimension. Due to its ability and flexibility, our framework can be employed under various marketing actions. We applied our framework to both qualitative and quantitative data

Quinone-based organic redox compounds for electrochemical energy storage devices

Tesis Doctoral inédita leída en la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Química Orgánica. Fecha de lectura: 31-10-201

Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale (HK-LS): A Study on Development, Validity and Reliability

This study was conducted to develop a scale to measure knowledge about hypertension among Turkish adults. The Hypertension Knowledge-Level Scale (HK-LS) was generated based on content, face, and construct validity, internal consistency, test re-test reliability, and discriminative validity procedures. The final scale had 22 items with six sub-dimensions. The scale was applied to 457 individuals aged ≥18 years, and 414 of them were re-evaluated for test-retest reliability. The six sub-dimensions encompassed 60.3% of the total variance. Cronbach alpha coefficients were 0.82 for the entire scale and 0.92, 0.59, 0.67, 0.77, 0.72, and 0.76 for the sub-dimensions of definition, medical treatment, drug compliance, lifestyle, diet, and complications, respectively. The scale ensured internal consistency in reliability and construct validity, as well as stability over time. Significant relationships were found between knowledge score and age, gender, educational level, and history of hypertension of the participants. No correlation was found between knowledge score and working at an income-generating job. The present scale, developed to measure the knowledge level of hypertension among Turkish adults, was found to be valid and reliable

Awareness of the Place : an ethnographic research into Izmir as a place of urban memory in the context of the International Izmir Festival

Izmir is a metropolitan Turkish city located at Aegean Sea connected to Mediterranean Basin. Parallel to global developments in tourism many local organizations are looking for making Izmir a brand mark city well known in the international scene. The historical background and its geography are promoted as a part of this image making process. Especially the historical sites are reclaimed to be the most powerful sign of the city’s brand quality. The International Izmir Festival involves in the presentation of historical sites to local and international audience. Once the prestigious classical music, theatre and dance performances are organized in those sites, the spectators and the media have the motivation to discover and experience them. Different than antic sites like Ephesus and Asklepion, while the festival participants visit Kadifekale (the Belvedere Castle), Ayavukla (Saint Voukolos Church), Reji (Old Monopoly Cigarette Factory) and Abacıoğlu Inn, they experience these formerly neglected places which represent the recent past of their city. This research aims to analyze the reasons of this disconnection contradicting with the nostalgia and revalorization of historic sites as ‘cultural heritages’ which become tools for the representation of the local identity. A historical study tackles first the ruptures: The Big Fire of Smyrna, population exchange between Turkey and Greece and Turkish modernity. Second, the series of semi structured interviews and participant observation among the festival team and the spectators unfold how they remember and make sense of the selected places within their festival practice. The physical and social interactions of the festival participants reveal that the festival creates a heterotopia. Their experiences indicate that while they visit those ‘other spaces’ to watch a performance, they confront with the actuality of the city. While the historic sites become visible under the ephemeral conditions of the festival, the memory that they represent may come to surface. It becomes also significant that the places which are promoted for the image of Izmir, are in fact the palimpsests of the urban memory which have become the stages of Turkish modernity: forgetfulness of the past, handover of the places by the migration waves, rural-urbanite segregation and social class differences between seaside and historic neighborhoods. Although the buildings and their neighborhoods ‘tickle’ about the urban memory, the attempt of the festival to bring prestige for Izmir’s brand mark value remains superficial due to lack of cultural memory construction and social inclusion

A festival for the city's memory? Reconstructing of city's cultural memory through the performances in the 'Islands of time'

Turning the 21st century Izmir has encountered to be a brand mark city by the fundamental changes. Toward this motivation, the local and national establishments engaged in various projects to polish the local elements. However, there seems less attention to the fundamental problem as consciousness of citizenship. Actual Izmir demonstrates a sort of ‘consumption of space’ which causes a gap between the past and the present. This article which is acquired by the ethnographic interviews, investigates the awareness of place process among Izmir Festival’s participants who participate to the concerts in the “islands of time” isolated by modern life in the city. Four places are taken as case studies to report the interaction of festival participants. Previously being ‘invisible’, they make sense by the personal experiences that the festival participants have during and after the performance which contributes to connect one’s memory with the city’s memory