Low-Cost Strategy Implementation in the Turkish Airline Industry Compared to the Pioneer Low-Cost Carrier in the United States

This paper is a qualitative research about the low-cost strategy implementation in the Turkish airline industry based on the country`s only low-cost carrier. In order to understand how the company implements low-cost strategy, in-detail literature review on strategy evolution, industry background, and the birth of low-cost airline model are provided. The pioneer low-cost airline company in the United States is also analysed to compare and contrast the strategy implementation of the focused company in Turkey. How the strategy is implemented in Turkey and why it is implemented by only one company are the main questions to be answered in this paper. The key feature of this study is to rely on empirical data from natural and social world, and connect them to the concepts mentioned in the literature review to discuss the relationship between the theory and practice. Research findings seek to contribute to the knowledge in strategic management in that context

Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment I

The Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA)-I is widely used assessment tool for evaluation of balance and gait properties. The aim of this study was to translate POMA-I to Turkish and to assess its reliability and validity. People with amputated lower extremities using prosthetics, those who underwent orthopedic surgery within the last 6 months, those dependent on wheel chairs and also bed-ridden patients, subjects with dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and illiterate people were excluded. After translation into Turkish, the Turkish version of the scale was applied on the participants at 2-week intervals. Volunteers ≥65 years of age were enrolled in the study. Internal consistencies of POMA subscale scores of postural balance and gait, and total score were calculated using Cronbach's α coefficient. The Turkish version was evaluated with respect to inter- and intrarater reliability and test-retest reliability intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). For validation, Pearson's correlation coefficient between POMA and Berg Balance Scale (BBS) and Timed Up and Go Test (TUGT) was estimated. Eighty participants enrolled in the study with a mean age of 76. 5 ± 6. 75 years. In the reliability evaluation of the scale, considering postural balance, gait, and total score, Cronbach's α coefficients were found to be 0. 72, 0. 83, and 0. 88, respectively. ICCs were detected above 0. 70 for test-retest reliability and also for interrater and intrarater reliability. In validation study POMA total score had a strong positive correlation with BBS total score (r = 0. 86, p<0. 0001), and also a negative correlation with TUGT (r = -0. 75, p < 0. 0001). According to the results of this study, the Turkish version of the POMA-I scale has been found to be a reliable and a valid scale for elderly Turkish people. © 2012 European Group for Research into Elderly and Physical Activity (EGREPA)

Berg Denge Ölçeği’nin Türkçe versiyonunun inmeli hastalarda geçerlilik ve güvenilirliği

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess reliability, validity and responsiveness of the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) which had been translated to the Turkish language and made transcultural adaptation. Materials and Methods: In this study, we included stroke patients who past the 3-week acute post-stroke period and were planned for rehabilitation. Exclusion criteria included having no ability of understanding the commands and presence of major perceptual and cognitive disorders. The patients were assessed on admission and three months after discharge. Beside BBS scores, Functional Independence Measure-motor scores (FIM-MS), Rivermead Mobility Index (RMI) scores and Brunnsrom recovery stages were evaluated. Internal consistency in reliability study was assessed using Cronbach-α, convergent validity study was assessed by estimation of Spearman correlation coefficient of FIM-MS and RMI scores. Responsiveness was detected by assessing the effect size, and counting the standardized response mean. Results: Sixty-four patients (34 female, 30 male) with a mean age of 63.6±10.46 years were included. Duration of stroke was 35.9±16.4 days. The right side was affected in 34 patients (53%), and the left side in 30 patients (47%). There were significant improvements in all parameters at three month follow-up compared to admission period (p<0.0001). In reliability study, Cronbach-α for total BBS was found to be 0.96. In correlation for validation study, there was positive correlations between BBS and FIM-MS (r=0.69, p<0.0001), and BBS and RMI (r=077, p<0.0001). Since the effect size of BBS was found to be 1.90, and standardized response mean value was found to be 1.85, the BBS was found to have a good level of responsiveness. Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the Turkish version of the BBS is valid, reliable, and responsive in stroke patients in the three month acute post-stroke period. © Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Published by Galenos Publishing

Actually existing Silk Roads

This article explores the relevance of the concept of Silk Road for understandings patterns of trade and exchange between China, Eurasia and the Middle East. It is based on ethnographic fieldwork in the city of Yiwu, in China’s Zhejiang Province. Yiwu is a node in the global distribution of Chinese ‘small commodities’ and home to merchants and traders from across Asia and beyond. The article explores the role played by traders from Afghanistan in connecting the city of Yiwu to markets and trading posts in the world beyond. It seeks to bring attention to the diverse types of networks involved in such forms of trade, as well as their emergence and development over the past thirty years

The need to promote behaviour change at the cultural level: one factor explaining the limited impact of the MEMA kwa Vijana adolescent sexual health intervention in rural Tanzania. A process evaluation

Background - Few of the many behavioral sexual health interventions in Africa have been rigorously evaluated. Where biological outcomes have been measured, improvements have rarely been found. One of the most rigorous trials was of the multi-component MEMA kwa Vijana adolescent sexual health programme, which showed improvements in knowledge and reported attitudes and behaviour, but none in biological outcomes. This paper attempts to explain these outcomes by reviewing the process evaluation findings, particularly in terms of contextual factors. Methods - A large-scale, primarily qualitative process evaluation based mainly on participant observation identified the principal contextual barriers and facilitators of behavioural change. Results - The contextual barriers involved four interrelated socio-structural factors: culture (i.e. shared practices and systems of belief), economic circumstances, social status, and gender. At an individual level they appeared to operate through the constructs of the theories underlying MEMA kwa Vijana - Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Reasoned Action – but the intervention was unable to substantially modify these individual-level constructs, apart from knowledge. Conclusion - The process evaluation suggests that one important reason for this failure is that the intervention did not operate sufficiently at a structural level, particularly in regard to culture. Recently most structural interventions have focused on gender or/and economics. Complementing these with a cultural approach could address the belief systems that justify and perpetuate gender and economic inequalities, as well as other barriers to behaviour change

Information Revolutions and the Overthrow of Autocratic Regimes

This paper presents a model of information quality and political regime change. If enough citizens act against a regime, it is overthrown. Citizens are imperfectly informed about how hard this will be and the regime can, at a cost, engage in propaganda so that at face-value it seems hard. The citizens are rational and evaluate their information knowing the regime's incentives. The model makes three predictions. First, even rational citizens may not correctly infer the amount of manipulation. Second, as the intrinsic quality of information available becomes sufficiently high, the regime is more likely to survive. Third, the regime benefits from ambiguity about the amount of manipulation, and consequently, as it becomes cheaper to manipulate, the regime is also more likely to survive. Key results of the benchmark static model extend to a simple dynamic setting where there are waves of unrest

Non-Disruptive Tactics of Suppression Are Superior in Countering Terrorism, Insurgency, and Financial Panics

BACKGROUND: Suppressing damaging aggregate behaviors such as insurgency, terrorism, and financial panics are important tasks of the state. Each outcome of these aggregate behaviors is an emergent property of a system in which each individual's action depends on a subset of others' actions, given by each individual's network of interactions. Yet there are few explicit comparisons of strategies for suppression, and none that fully incorporate the interdependence of individual behavior. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Here I show that suppression tactics that do not require the removal of individuals from networks of interactions are nearly always more effective than those that do. I find using simulation analysis of a general model of interdependent behavior that the degree to which such less disruptive suppression tactics are superior to more disruptive ones increases in the propensity of individuals to engage in the behavior in question. CONCLUSIONS: Thus, hearts-and-minds approaches are generally more effective than force in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency, and partial insurance is usually a better tactic than gag rules in quelling financial panics. Differences between suppression tactics are greater when individual incentives to support terrorist or insurgent groups, or susceptibilities to financial panic, are higher. These conclusions have utility for policy-makers seeking to end bloody conflicts and prevent financial panics. As the model also applies to mass protest, its conclusions provide insight as well into the likely effects of different suppression strategies undertaken by authoritarian regimes seeking to hold on to power in the face of mass movements seeking to end them

Overthrowing the dictator: a game-theoretic approach to revolutions and media

A distinctive feature of recent revolutions was the key role of social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube). In this paper, we study its role in mobilization. We assume that social media allow potential participants to observe the individual participation decisions of others, while traditional mass media allow potential participants to see only the total number of people who participated before them. We show that when individuals’ willingness to revolt is publicly known, then both sorts of media foster a successful revolution. However, when willingness to revolt is private information, only social media ensure that a revolt succeeds, with mass media multiple outcomes are possible, one of which has individuals not participating in the revolt. This suggests that social media enhance the likelihood that a revolution triumphs more than traditional mass media

The Diffusion of Inclusion: An Open Polity Model of Ethnic Power Sharing

While there is a growing consensus that ethnic inclusion produces peace, less is known about what causes transitions to power sharing between ethnic groups in central governments in multiethnic states. The few studies that have addressed this question have proposed explanations stressing exclusively domestic factors. Yet, power sharing is spatially clustered, which suggests that diffusion may be at play. Inspired by studies of democratic diffusion, we study the spread of inclusive policies with an “open polity model” that explicitly traces diffusion from inclusion in other states. Our findings indicate that the relevant diffusion processes operate primarily at the level of world regions rather than globally or between territorial neighbors. Thus, the more inclusive the region, the more likely a shift to power sharing becomes. Shifts away from inclusion to dominance are less common since World War II, but they are more likely in regional settings characterized by ethnic exclusion