The New Age of Hybridity and Clash of Norms: China, BRICS and Challenges of Global Governance in a Post-liberal International Order

This article sketches an analytical framework to account for new patterns of global governance. We characterize the emergent post-liberal international order as a new age of hybridity, which signifies that no overriding set of paradigms dominate global governance. Instead we have a complex web of competing norms, which creates new opportunities as well as major elements of instability, uncertainty and anxiety. In the age of hybridity, non-Western great powers (led by China) play an increasingly counter-hegemonic role in shaping new style multilateralism – ontologically fragmented, normatively inconsistent, and institutionally incoherent. We argue that democracy paradox constitutes the fundamental issue at stake in this new age of hybridity. On the one hand, global power transitions seem to enable ‘democratization of globalization’ by opening more space to the hitherto excluded non-Western states to make their voices heard. On the other hand, emerging pluralism in global governance is accompanied by the regression of liberal democracy and spread of illiberalism that enfeeble ‘globalization of democratization.

Anatomical landmark based registration of contrast enhanced T1-weighted MR images

In many problems involving multiple image analysis, an im- age registration step is required. One such problem appears in brain tumor imaging, where baseline and follow-up image volumes from a tu- mor patient are often to-be compared. Nature of the registration for a change detection problem in brain tumor growth analysis is usually rigid or affine. Contrast enhanced T1-weighted MR images are widely used in clinical practice for monitoring brain tumors. Over this modality, con- tours of the active tumor cells and whole tumor borders and margins are visually enhanced. In this study, a new technique to register serial contrast enhanced T1 weighted MR images is presented. The proposed fully-automated method is based on five anatomical landmarks: eye balls, nose, confluence of sagittal sinus, and apex of superior sagittal sinus. Af- ter extraction of anatomical landmarks from fixed and moving volumes, an affine transformation is estimated by minimizing the sum of squared distances between the landmark coordinates. Final result is refined with a surface registration, which is based on head masks confined to the sur- face of the scalp, as well as to a plane constructed from three of the extracted features. The overall registration is not intensity based, and it depends only on the invariant structures. Validation studies using both synthetically transformed MRI data, and real MRI scans, which included several markers over the head of the patient were performed. In addition, comparison studies against manual landmarks marked by a radiologist, as well as against the results obtained from a typical mutual information based method were carried out to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method

The projectile impact responses of the composite faced aluminum foam and corrugated aluminum sandwich structures: a comparative study

Thesis (Master)--Izmir Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Izmir, 2011Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 99-101)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxii, 101 leavesThe projectile impact and energy absorption characteristics of the corrugated aluminum cored E-glass/polyester composite sandwich structures were determined at the impact velocities of 150 m/s. For comparison, E-glass/polyester sandwich structures cored with aluminum foam were also investigated. The test conditions were kept the same for each structure in order to identify the impact properties at the similar test conditions. The composite and the foam core composite sandwiches were produced by vacuum assisted resin transfer molding and the mechanical tests were performed on the composite and core samples based on ASTM. High strain rate tests were performed using a compression type Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar and drop weight test set-up. It was found that aluminum foam sandwich structures had higher ballistic limit and energy dissipating performance than corrugated aluminum sandwich structures; however, as the thickness of the face sheets increased the corrugated aluminum cores were observed to be more effective. The results showed that corrugated aluminum structures had the potentials to be used as core material in composite sandwich structures

Global Shifts and the Limits of the EU’s Transformative Power in the European Periphery: Comparative Perspectives from Hungary and Turkey

This article highlights the weakening of the EU’s transformative capacity in the broader European periphery in a rapidly shifting global order, with reference to Hungary and Turkey. Although Hungary is an ‘insider’ and Turkey a relative ‘outsider’, their recent experiences display strikingly similar patterns, raising important concerns about the EU’s leverage. Under the influence of strong nationalist-populist leaders backed by powerful majorities, both countries have been moving in an increasingly illiberal direction, away from well-established EU norms. The article proposes an analytical framework based on a combination of push and pull factors that are driven by changing global political economy dynamics, which explains the EU’s declining appeal in its periphery, not only in reference to the internal dynamics of European integration and its multiple crises, but also the appeal of illiberal versions of strategic capitalism employed by rising powers, which serve as reference points for the elites of several states in diverse geographic settings

Differences in pragmatic skills between bilingual Turkish immigrant children in the Netherlands and monolingual peers

In bilingualism studies, comparing the competence of mono- and bilingual speakers is common, but it comes with certain limitations. In immigration contexts, many studies concentrate on the skills of immigrant pupils in the mainstream language. In order to account for educational underachievement of minority children, gaps in their language development are often documented by comparing mainstream pupils with immigrant children. Competence in the first language (L1), on the other hand, receives very little attention, despite the fact that it is often assumed that L1 competence has an impact on second language acquisition. Here, we present the findings of an empirical study that compared bilingual Turkish immigrant children (n = 30) in the Netherlands with monolingual Turkish peers (n = 30) in Turkey. Contrary to most other such studies, we focus on the development of socio-pragmatic skills. The evidence shows that, from the viewpoint of monolingual conventions, the immigrant children lag behind in their command of these skills. Also after controlling for socioeconomic status, bilingual Turkish immigrant children display much lower knowledge of the socio-pragmatic skills than monolingual Turkish children. The causes of this difference can be attributed to the limited Turkish input in the immigration context

The dynamics of emerging middle-power influence in regional and global governance: the paradoxical case of Turkey

This article attempts to understand the properties, potentials and limits of middle-power activism in a changing global order. Extensive debate on the rise of emerging powers notwithstanding, the potential contributions of emerging middle powers in regional and global governance, and the imminent challenges they face in their struggle for an upgraded status in the hierarchy of world politics, is an understudied issue. This study aims to fill this gap by offering a broad conceptual framework for middle-power activism and testing it with reference to the Turkish case. In this context, the authors aim to address the following questions: What kind of roles can emerging middle powers play in a post-hegemonic international system? What are the dynamics, properties and limitations of emerging middle-power activism in regional and global governance? Based on an extensive study of the Turkish case, the authors’ central thesis is that emerging middle powers can make important contributions to regional and global governance. Their ultimate impact, however, is not inevitable, but depends on a complementary set of conditions, which are outlined in this study

Neo-developmentalist turn in the global political economy? The Turkish case

The 2008 global economic crisis galvanized the debate on neo-developmentalism as the pendulum of economic thinking began to swing away from neoliberalism. The current shift in the modalities of market governance mainly deals with the ways through which industrial policies can be crafted in a more open-economy setting. Accordingly, the post-crisis literature turns a keen eye on the state’s developmental role in the research and development (R&D) sector in an age of ‘bit-driven’ global political economy. On that note, the nature, properties, and limits of state policies of emerging powers in this particular realm are becoming increasingly central but remain an understudied theme. This article discusses the R&D policies of Turkey from a state capacity perspective and questions the rationale of those policies by linking the state’s transformative capacity to the discussions on distributive pressures. Drawing on twenty-one in-depth semi-structured interviews, this article assesses Turkey’s R&D policies

Language maintenance and shift patterns of the Turkish speakers in The Netherlands

Language maintenance, shift and ethnolinguistic vitality perceptions of Turkish speakers in the Netherlands are discussed in this paper. Using ethnolinguistic vitality theory of Giles, Bourhis &Taylor (1977) data on language use, choice and attitudes of Turkish immigrants in the Netherlands were collected. Using education as an independent variable, data has been analysed. The findings of this study have contributed further evidence to the role of education for language maintenance and shift. Better-educated Turkish immigrants have higher proficiency levels both in L1 and L2 compared to less educated informants but their attitudes towards Turkish is not as positive as the less educated group

Comparison of Different Machine Learning Algorithms for National Flags Classification

Each country in the world has its own combination of colors, shapes and symbols on their flags. Some of them use an animal figure such as an eagle, some use an object like a boat; some nations prefer religion figures such as a crescent, or a cross. Some questions yet remain and need an answer. What are the factors that determine the flag of a nation? What factors are affecting the color or colors of a national flag? And what are the reasons for existence of symbols on some national flags?In this paper, we worked an analysis on national flags and factors that mostly affects the design of them. In order to find out these factors, we have used feature extraction method, after that we used different machine learning algorithms to predict religion and landmass of the country. We also showed correlations of certain components that are possible to exist on a national flag such as dominant color or colors on a flag, bars or stripes, normal and sacred symbols such as sun, stars, crosses, crescents, and triangles and, finally some specific icons like a boat or an animal figure.This study shows the associations of some characteristics of countries or different nationalities. There are many affected factors and there are very close correlations between these factors. It also includes the classification of national flag data using Multilayer Perceptron, CART and C4.5 algorithms and comparison of these techniques based on accuracy and performance for classification of national flag’s features