DEFINING SEVERE GRADERS THROUGH MANY FACETED RASCH MEASUREMENT

Scoring language learners’ writing exams is a difficult task for graders since many task-relevant or irrelevant variables such as the user-friendliness of the rubric, difficulty of the task, students’ handwriting or grader characteristics (being too lenient or harsh) are involved in the process. To be able to gain valid and reliable scores, studying the variables that affect scoring procedures and seeking ways to control and minimize them are crucial concerns for institutions in order to assure their learners that their assigned scores are genuine and given in the least subjective way that could be possible. That is why analysing grader attitudes while scoring and identifying the stringent and lenient graders in the rater-pool is important not only to be able to set the best matches of graders where multiple scorings or cross-marking sessions are applied but for making those raters be aware of their scoring habits. In this exploratory study, 6 writing graders who had more than 10-year-expertise in grading writing voluntarily scored 20 student essays including two separate tasks. MFRM (Many Faceted Rasch Measurement) was used to explore graders’ marking behaviours and discover how those behaviours affect test scores of language learners. Finally, results of the study showed that graders, while they all used the same rubric and had enough expertise in grading, have significant score differences and a significant level of stringency in scoring essays.  Article visualizations

Identifying, measuring and addressing language learners’ needs

Most university students are confronted with the feeling of loneliness and face with a number of other personal psychological and social needs during their first years at university. Depending on the students’ age, gender, faculty, socioeconomic status or emotional intelligence, these needs may change considerably and affect their academic success. As a consequence, objective and frequent assessment of the needs of university students (especially in their first years) is essential to provide more sustainable, effective and meaningful educational programs. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to explore psychological and social needs of foreign language preparatory schools’ students in Turkey and to determine whether those needs differ according to a number of independent variables. The sample of the study consists of 1526 undergraduate students studying at 5 different state-universities’ language schools in Ankara, Eskişehir and İzmir during 2018-2019 academic years. SNAS (Students’ Needs Analysis Survey), a Turkish adapted version of the original scale the Survey of Student Needs (SSN) was used for data collection. Finally, the results of this study revealed that freshmen language learners primarily have psychological, social, academic and financial needs and these needs differ significantly according to gender, language proficiency level and academic achievement

RATERS’ PREJUDICES IN ORAL PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT

Research on testing speaking claims that raters’ beliefs, perceptions and even their prejudices may be involved in the process of grading although they are given a set of rubrics to stay on the same track and have stable qualities on the assessment of oral production that is why many researchers have studied the rationale of those beliefs and the amount it affects the scores. This study aimed to find out whether the perceptions and beliefs of raters’ play a significant role in testing speaking and question the role of experience in the involvement of such beliefs. To do that, a group of raters were asked to grade the audio recordings of a group of students twice with one-month-interval in between, being misinformed about the students’ physical appearances each time with the help of different pictures, and were interviewed later to identify whether their pre-conceptions on students’ physical appearances play a role in their grading oral performances. Also, the data obtained were used to draw some conclusions whether the raters intentionally or unintentionally used their beliefs in the grading process. The analysis revealed that student appearance may be significantly effective in teachers’ grading and this is true especially for experienced teachers who believe their judgements are true and unbiased more than the less experienced ones.  Article visualizations

An analysis of factors affecting understanding and applications of branded housing project marketing around the Istanbul metropolitan area

Marketing is a quite crucial topic for success in the current competitive environment. Efficient and effective marketing practices will allow the companies to grow and to be more successful. Companies can gain competitive advantage by developing various marketing strategies. The objective of this study is to research the factors affecting the understanding and applications of ‘branded housing project marketing’ around the Istanbul metropolitan area. Branding and market positioning depend on fulfillment of certain conditions and key criteria. The criteria such as the structure of companies, product quality, professional services, and marketing and communication perspectives all constitute a quite important process in the enhancement of the perceived value of the company. Companies should be aware that it is highly vital to create brand in order to benefit from the advantages of the brand such as creating differentiation, positive high-quality corporate and brand image and customer loyalty and resolution. Today, the number of construction companies carrying out branded housing projects is quite high. It has been observed that the activities regarding branding are quite prevalent in construction industry. In line with this, every housing project should have its own identity and brand image. Especially in business fields with higher economic value such as residential real estate sector, marketing and sales activities display unique characteristics.Publisher's Versio

Market and Project Selection Decisions of Construction Companies: Evidence from Turkish Contractors

Globalization of the world economy has made borders between the countries lessimportant and thereby brought about unified markets. Construction industry is not differentfrom other industries when it comes to the globalization and unification of markets. Enteringinto new markets and undertaking international projects promise several benefits such asincrease in the business volume, profits, market share, etc. Turkish contractors have also beenactively operating in international markets since the 1970s. They have completed more than5,100 projects with a total value of USD 155 billion in 81 different countries until now.Undoubtedly, this success is highly subject to the extent to which they make sound decisionson market and project selection. This study aims to investigate the main attributes that mayaffect Turkish contractors' decisions on market and project selection. Review of the literature indicated that there are 57 attributes that may likely affect market and project selection decisions of contractors. These attributes were categorized into 4 main groups, namely;contractor-related attributes, country-related attributes, project-related attributes, and owner related attributes. A questionnaire consisting of 62 questions was designed and conducted among 71 Turkish contractors in order to identify the most contributing attributes. Reliability analysis was carried out to test the internal consistency of the questionnaire and factor analysis was conducted to identify the most contributing factors. Reliability analysis resultsindicated that seven attributes should be deleted to increase the internal consistency of thequestionnaire and factor analysis results revealed that the remaining 50 attributes could be described by 11 factors

Evaluation Upon the Transformation of the Monuments and Memorials

Mimarisiz yaşayabiliriz, fakat onsuz hatırlayamayız. J. Ruskin, 1849 John Ruskin’in yukarıdaki ifadesinde de belirtildiği gibi mimarlık ve yapılı çevre hafızanın oluşmasındaki en önemli etkendir. Trajedilerle dolu insanlık tarihinin belki de en önemli olgusu insanın varlığı ve ölümüdür. İnsan kaybedilen/i/leri anma ve varlığının izlerini bu dünyada bırakma aracı olarak anıtlar inşa etmiştir. Anıt, tarihte yaşanmış büyük olayları, önemli kişilerin hatıralarını sonraki kuşaklara aktarmak için yapılmış olsa da esas olarak insanın dünyada bir iz bırakma çabası olarak nitelendirilebilir. Anıtlar, küçük bir mezar taşından firavunların büyük ölçekli mezarlarına, dikili taşlardan, tarihteki önemli kişilerin kahramanlık hikayelerinin tasvir edildiği heykellere insanın varolma, hatırlanma ve iz bırakma güdüsünü temsil etmesi gibi amaçlarla yapılagelmişlerdir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, Riegl’in eserinde güçlü bir şekilde vurguladığı insanın kendini kurma becerisinin ortaya çıktığı onyedinci yüzyıldan günümüze klasik “anıt” kavramının geçirdiği transformasyonu irdeleme ve bilişim çağındaki örnekler üzerinden “anıt”ın günümüzdeki durumuna ait tartışmaya dair bir değerlendirme yapmaktır. Ele alınan örnekler yirmibirinci yüzyılın ilk periyoduna ait örneklerdir ve yazarın deneyimlediği günümüze ait dört örnek, coğrafyadan bağımsız ve anakronik olarak ele alınmıştır. Bunlardan birincisi farklı bir arkitektonik dile sahip, topoğrafyayı farklı bir düzlem olarak elen alan ve Hitler iktidarında yokedilen insan yığınlarını farklı büyüklükteki beton bloklar metaforu ile temsil ettiği mimar Peter Eisenman’a ait Berlin’deki Holokost Anıtı (2005) dır. Bir diğeri yine Berlin’de yer alan esnek mekan kurgusu, kamusal alan ve özelleşmiş alan arasındaki farklı kullanıma olanak veren yarışmayla elde edilmiş (2007-2009), Prof. Andreas Meck ve ekibi tarafından tasarlanmış Alman Silahlı Kuvvetleri Anıt Mezarı dır. Üçüncü örnek 11 Eylül terör saldırılarıyla yıkılan Dünya Ticaret Merkezi’nin (ikiz kulelerinin) izlerini kullanarak çöküşü bir metafor olarak kullanan Michael Arad’ın tasarladığı, uzun süren bir sürecin sonunda yine yarışmayla elde edilmiş 9 /11 anıtıdır. Dördüncü örnek ise, yapımı geçtiğimiz aylarda Norveç hükümeti tarafından farklı gerekçelerle iptal edilen “Bellek Yarası” isimli anıt fikridir.We can live without architecture but we can not remember without it . J.Ruskin, 1849 As John Ruskin mentioned in his works about the monument and memory, architecture and the built environment has a major effect in the memory. The human history which is full of tradegies, the main aspect of life is the human existence and its death. Therefore the individuals created their own monuments and memorials as a tool to spread their traces in earth. Monuments are built to comemorize the important characters of the societies or toe remember the historical events which has an important role in making the history of the society. This article focuses on mainly the transformation of the monuments and memorials since the first monument was erected in the history till today. The meaning of the memory today has been discussed regarding four different monuments/memorials such as Holocasut Memorial in Berlin, The Monument for the German Soldiers in Berlin, 9/11 Memorial in USA and the Johnas Dahlberg’s “Memory Wound” Memorial which has not been realized yet

The use of platelet indices, plateletcrit, mean platelet volume and platelet distribution width in emergency non-traumatic abdominal surgery: a systematic review.

Platelet indices (PI) — plateletcrit, mean platelet volume (MPV) and platelet distribution width (PDW) — are a group of derived platelet parameters obtained as a part of the automatic complete blood count. Emerging evidence suggests that PIs may have diagnostic and prognostic value in certain diseases. This study aimed to summarize the current scientific knowledge on the potential role of PIs as a diagnostic and prognostic marker in patients having emergency, non-traumatic abdominal surgery. In December 2015, we searched Medline/PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar to identify all articles on PIs. Overall, considerable evidence suggests that PIs are altered with acute appendicitis. Although the role of PI in the differential diagnosis of acute abdomen remains uncertain, low MPV might be useful in acute appendicitis and acute mesenteric ischemia, with high MPV predicting poor prognosis in acute mesenteric ischemia. The current lack of consistency and technical standards in studies involving PIs should be regarded as a serious limitation to comparing these studies. Further large, multicentre prospective studies concurrently collecting data from different ethnicities and genders are needed before they can be used in routine clinical practice

Role of Mg doping in the structural, optical, and electrical characteristics of ZnO-based DSSCs

ZnO- and Mg-doped ZnO samples are prepared by spray pyrolysis on conducting glass substrates to fabricate ZnO-based dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In uences of Mg-doping content on the power conversion efficiencies of ZnO-based DSSCs are investigated. X-ray diffraction results show that all the samples exhibit a hexagonal wurtzite structure. Scanning electron microscopy data indicate that the ZnO sample has uniform rods with 1 ? m diameter. With respect to ZnO, the band gap value of 4 at.% Mg-doped ZnO samples improves to the value of 3.27 eV and a further increase in Mg level up to 6 at.% gives rise to a decline in the band gap value of 3.22 eV. Photoluminescence measurements illustrate that intensities of the ultraviolet peak and a red luminescence peak take their maximum values for 4 at.% Mg doping. From solar cell performance measurements, the best power conversion efficiency of 0.08% is obtained for the doping amount of 4 at.% Mg

HILBERT MATRIX AND DIFFERENCE OPERATOR OF ORDER m

In this paper, some applications of the Hilbert matrix in image processing and cryptology are mentioned and an algorithm related to the Hilbert view of a digital image is given. New matrix domains are constructed and some of their properties are investigated. Furthermore, dual spaces of new matrix domains are computed and matrix transformations are characterized. Finally, examples of transformations of new spaces are given