Agricultural policies and time series analyses: An application to cotton prices in Turkey

Pamuk ürünü gerek bölgemiz ve gerekse ulusal ve uluslararası boyutta oldukça stratejik bir üründür. Türkiye pamuk üretiminde önceleri kendine yeterli bir ülke iken son yıllarda dünya fiyatlarındaki değişkenlik, girdi maliyetlerindeki artış, tekstil sektörünün artan hammadde ihtiyacı ve karşılaştırmalı üstünlüklerin azalması gibi nedenlerle önemli bir ithalatçı konumuna gelmiştir. Bu çalışmada pamuk üretimi ile fiyatlar etkileşimi zaman serileri kullanılarak incelenmiştir. Çalışmada pamuk üretimi, borsada oluşan pamuk fiyatı ve mazot fiyatı arasındaki ilişki VAR yöntemiyle analiz edilmiştir. Bulgulara göre bir önceki yılın üretim miktarı ve pamuk fiyatı üretim üzerinde önemli faktörler olarak bulunmuştur. Nedensellik analizi ise mazot fiyatı ile üretim arasında güçlü bir ilişki bulmuştur. Bu durum mazot fiyatlarındaki artışın pamuğun tekstil sanayinde alternatifi olan yapay dokuma ürünlerinin maliyetini ve dolayısıyla imalat aşamasında talebi azaltması nedeniyle tekstil sektörünün pamuk talebinin artması ile açıklanabilir. Etki tepki fonksiyonu tahminleri ise piyasalarda oluşacak herhangi bir şokun pamuk üretimi üzerinde negatif fiyatlar üzerinde ise artırıcı etkide bulunacağını göstermiştir. Çalışmadan elde edilen bulgular göz önüne alındığında pamuk üretiminde piyasada önceki yılda oluşan fiyatın belirleyici unsur olduğu ortaya çıkmaktadır. Mazot fiyatları ise üretim kararında önemli bir belirleyici unsur olmamakta ancak ikame ürünlerin talebini etkilemesi dolayısıyla dolaylı olarak üretimi etkilemektedir. Bunun yanında özellikle son yıllarda mazot fiyatları ile üreticinin eline geçen pamuk fiyatları arasındaki fark pamuk fiyatları aleyhine artmıştır. Bu durum hem üreticilerin reel gelirlerinin düşmesine hem de tekstil sektörün hammadde ihtiyacının iç kaynaklarla sağlama güvenliğini azaltmaktadır. Bu nedenle tarım politikaları içerisinde girdi fiyatlarının dünya standartlarında sağlanması ve gelire yönelik desteklerin bu yönde yeniden dizayn edilmesi yararlı olacaktır.Cotton is a strategic commodity at regional, national and international scale. Although Turkey was self sufficient in cotton, it has become an significant importer recently because of variations in world prices, increasing input costs, increasing demand from the domestic textile industry, and decreasing comparative advantage. In this study, the interaction between cotton and prices were examined. The relationship between cotton production, cotton prices in commodity exchange, and diesel oil prices were analyzed employing the VAR. The results indicate that the production amount and cotton prices in previous year are main determinants for the decision of current year. The causality test indicates that causality runs from diesel prices to production. This finding can be explained by the fact that increasing diesel prices lead to higher costs of cotton substitutes in textile industry and therefore decreases the demand for these substitutes in the process of manufacturing. The impulse response function indicates that any shock in production leads to higher prices for cotton. According to the findings, the commodity prices in previous years are main determinants fort he production decision. The diesel prices are not the direct factor in production decision but show its effect indirectly through changing demand for substitutes. In addition, the difference between the cotton prices and diesel prices widened recently against the farmers. This situation causes both lower incomes for farmers and endangers the sufficiency of domestically produced raw material. Therefore, it is quite essential that inputs are provided to farmers at world prices and income related supports are redesigned

English

Digital storytelling is the focus of the present study due to scarcity of studies in the context of Turkey. This study investigates the perceptions of 8th grade students on the integration of technology via Digital Storytelling to English courses. Another aim is to find out students’ preferences for topic and characters in their digital stories. The study was conducted with 15 students in a public school. The data were collected through pre-survey, digital stories, and post-survey. The study was carried out in a month period in which 5 different digital stories were created. The findings based on qualitative and quantitative analysis indicated that the perceptions of the participants toward the use of digital storytelling in English lessons were positive before and after the implementation process. In general, the participants wanted to keep using digital storytelling because they believed digital storytelling is motivating, contributes to language learning, and enables collaboration. The topics preferred were adrenalin, love, sadness, friendship, and fear. The characters were generally female heroines. The implications are that digital storytelling can be integrated into speaking, grammar, vocabulary and writing activities since it is an engaging way of practising language skills

Investigation of the morphometric features of bony nasolacrimal canal: a cone-beam computed tomography study

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the diameters of the bony nasolacrimal canal by cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) in normal adult Turkish population and the effect of gender and age on the nasolacrimal canal diameter. Materials and methods: The randomly selected 100 patients aged from 18 to 83 years were analysed, a total of 200 nasolacrimal canals were examined using CBCT. The anteroposterior and transverse diameters, the sectional area of the bony nasolacrimal canal and the angle between the bony canal and the nasal floor were measured in axial, sagittal CBCT scan. Results: The anteroposterior diameter of the bony nasolacrimal canal was 6.56 ± 1.53 mm, and the transverse diameter was 4.34 ± 1.03 mm. The sectional area of the bony nasolacrimal canal was 7.39 ± 3.29 mm2, and the angle between the bony canal and the nasal floor was 73.46 ± 6.77°. No significant difference in the anteroposterior diameter, the transverse diameter and the sectional area of the bony nasolacrimal canal between ages. The angle between the bony canal and the nasal floor was significantly greater in female. Conclusions: This study may provide useful information of morphometric features of the bony nasolacrimal canal. The detailed anatomical knowledge of bony nasolacrimal canal morphology may help the clinicians plan the treatment options

Difficulties Encountered by a Dyslexic Secondary School Student in Learning Science and Suggestions for Solutions

This study aims to reveal the problems faced by a dyslexic student in learning science and determine what can be considered an effective science teaching method for this kind of learner. The case study design was used, and the study was conducted with a 7th-grade dyslexic female student. This study used observations and a semi-structured interview form as data collection tools. According to the findings, the problems faced by the student with dyslexia in learning science were generally compatible with the literature and immediately affected science learning. It was deduced that the student's reading skills, writing skills, motor skills, attention, memory and comprehension, language skills, use of sensory organs, and math skills are effective in learning science and that the development of these skills is necessary for understanding and comprehending science. In order to develop these skills, it is predicted that technology-based student-centered activities and individualized teaching may be beneficial, which is in line with the constructivist philosophy. In addition, it may be practical to give technology-supported reading extracts containing scientific texts, tasks involving social interaction, and writing tasks to improve students' reading, writing, and language skills

EVALUATING PROSPECTIVE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ WRITTEN AND ORAL ARGUMENTS ON ECOLOGY

This study aimed to evaluate prospective elementary school teachers’ skills in creating written and oral arguments about the ecology. The case study method, one of the qualitative research approaches, was used. The study group consisted of 38 prospective elementary school teachers studying in the third year of an elementary teaching undergraduate program. As data collection tools, an expressions table containing ecology topics was designed by the researchers to evaluate the written argument creation skills of the participants and audio recordings of discussions were used to determine their oral argument creation skills. Descriptive analysis was used to analyze the data obtained in these ways. According to the findings of this research, the written and oral arguments of these prospective elementary school teachers were concentrated at a moderate level, but their oral arguments were at a higher level than their written arguments. It can be concluded that oral classroom discussions are more effective than written activities in creating arguments about the ecology

THOUGHTS ON LEARNER AUTONOMY IN A COMPUTER ASSISTED LANGUAGE LEARNING PROGRAM

In our institution, Quartet (computer software program) was a part of the curriculum which provides the students with the opportunity to work on their own in order to develop their language skills. To what extent the learners benefit from the materials and the time provided for them mainly depends on students since as Dakin suggests (1973) “though the teacher may control the experiences the learner is exposed to, it is the learner who selects what is learnt from them” (p. 16). According to the observations of teachers, some, but not all students worked effectively in lab lessons. This paper aims to identify the students’ perceptions about themselves, the teacher, their peers and language learning to have an idea of their autonomy and their thoughts on computer assisted language learning. Data were gathered through a 46- item questionnaire. Frequency tests were used to determine the frequencies and percentages of each item to find out the perceptions of participants on learner autonomy and the usefulness of computer lab lessons. Though the students shoulder the responsibility of learning, most students need guidance of their teachers to set goals for their learning process. Keywords: learner autonomy, computer assisted language learning &nbsp

Pre-earthquake fuzzy logic-based rapid hazard assessment of reinforced concrete buildings

The main purpose of this paper is to present a rapid building assessment fuzzy logic (FL) modelling for risk assessment based on expert construction engineering verbal informatics. Before an earthquake, a set of input expert assessment variables are transformed into five types of hazard categorization as "no damage", "slight damage", "moderate damage", "severe damage", and "collapse". Main variables are reported by expert engineers based on visual inspection of structural components in addition to the building location's peak ground velocity (PGV) micro zonation numerical value, soil type and building's material information. Each input variable and output hazard class is fuzzified. A valid set of fuzzy rule base components is written based on input variables, each of which has an appropriate output hazard class. The fuzzy hazard assessment model has input and output variables in terms of fuzzy sets. Thus, the overall model output is in the form of a fuzzy set and then defuzzified to find the percentage of each hazard class for a single building. The application of this fuzzy logic model is presented for twenty existing reinforced concrete buildings, and the final hazard categories of these buildings are presented with interpretations and recommendations.Istanbul Medipol Universit