106 research outputs found
Values, identities and social constructions of the European Union among Turkish university youth
The present study aimed to investigate Turkish university youth’s constructions concerning the
European Union (EU) and their reactions to the EU’s December 2002 Copenhagen summit decision
to delay discussion of Turkey’s entry to the EU. Specifically it aimed to show that socio-political
identities among Turkish youth were related to historical developments in Turkey’s past and that these
identities had associations with values of ethnocentricism, patriotism, and secularism. Furthermore it
was predicted that constructions of the EU reactions to the decision would be related. Students (400)
from five universities at the three largest cities of Turkey participated in the study. Three identities,
Nationalist-Islam, Kemalist, and Western; three constructions of the EU, Europe as Different,
Impermeable Boundaries, and Different but Advantageous, and two perceived causes for the decision,
Differences-Conflict and Justification emerged from factor analyses. Second order factor analysis
revealed that Nationalist-Islam identity and authoritarian, ethnocentric and antisecular values formed
a cluster whereas Kemalist and Western identities were grouped with low levels of patriotism. Positive
and negative constructions of the EU and reactions to the Copenhagen decision were also grouped
under two separate factors. Further analyses revealed that an index of urbanization composed of
parental education and rural-urban origin predicted the Authoritarian-Nationalistic cluster and that
this value-identity cluster predicted positive and negative views of the EU
Elliptic Thermal Correlation Functions and Modular Forms in a Globally Conformal Invariant QFT
Global conformal invariance (GCI) of quantum field theory (QFT) in two and
higher space-time dimensions implies the Huygens' principle, and hence,
rationality of correlation functions of observable fields (see Commun. Math.
Phys. 218 (2001) 417-436; hep-th/0009004). The conformal Hamiltonian has
discrete spectrum assumed here to be finitely degenerate. We then prove that
thermal expectation values of field products on compactified Minkowski space
can be represented as finite linear combinations of basic (doubly periodic)
elliptic functions in the conformal time variables (of periods 1 and )
whose coefficients are, in general, formal power series in
involving spherical functions of the "space-like"
fields' arguments. As a corollary, if the resulting expansions converge to
meromorphic functions, then the finite temperature correlation functions are
elliptic. Thermal 2-point functions of free fields are computed and shown to
display these features. We also study modular transformation properties of
Gibbs energy mean values with respect to the (complex) inverse temperature
(). The results are used to obtain the
thermodynamic limit of thermal energy densities and correlation functions.Comment: LaTex. 56 pages. The concept of global conformal invariance set in a
historical perspective (new Sect. 1.1 in the Introduction), references added;
minor corrections in the rest of the pape
Gauge coupling flux thresholds, exotic matter and the unification scale in F-SU(5) GUT
We explore the gauge coupling relations and the unification scale in F-theory
SU(5) GUT broken down to the Standard Model by an internal U(1)Y gauge flux. We
consider variants with exotic matter representations which may appear in these
constructions and investigate their role in the effective field theory model.
We make a detailed investigation on the conditions imposed on the extraneous
matter to raise the unification scale and make the color triplets heavy in
order to avoid fast proton decay. We also discuss in brief the implications on
the gaugino masses.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures, references and extended comments on KK
thresholds effects adde
Understanding Change in Romantic Relationship Expectations of International Female Students from Turkey
In the light of grounded theory, the authors explored change in romantic relationship expectations of international students. Twelve female graduate students from Turkey were interviewed and several themes were identified explaining the presence and absence of change in participants’ attitudes toward romantic relationships. The findings are discussed in relation to acculturation and direction for future research is presented
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