Revising the Status Quo of Revisionism, Grand Strategy, and International Order

This dissertation examines a type of variance in state behavior pertaining to international conflict and cooperation. Rather than confining this discussion to a binary understanding of state behavior, between revisionism and status-quo seeking, it endeavors to provide a nuanced discussion of the type of grand-strategic orientations states undertake in pursuit of their interests. It poses the question, “under what circumstances do states aspire to uphold, seek to reform, or challenge international order?” In doing so, the study helps to understanding the gamut of behaviors that purportedly satisfied or revisionist states display. System-level material opportunities that are filtered by elite-preferences and beliefs about international order at the unit-level account for the type of grand strategies states will adopt. Through congruency testing, the dissertation identifies and explains order-conforming, order-reforming, order-retrenching, and order-challenging grand strategies. In this context, the dissertation addresses debates within Structural Realism on status-quo and revisionist states as well as grand strategy formation to produce an eclectic mid-range theory of state behavior. The hypotheses generated by this theoretical undertaking are tested through longitudinal, comparative case study examinations of U.S. and Chinese grand strategies in the post-Cold War period

Potential use of BEST® sediment trap in splash-saltation transport process by simultaneous wind and rain tests

The research on wind-driven rain (WDR) transport process of the splash-saltation has increased over the last twenty years as wind tunnel experimental studies provide new insights into the mechanisms of simultaneous wind and rain (WDR) transport. The present study was conducted to investigate the efficiency of the BEST® sediment traps in catching the sand particles transported through the splash-saltation process under WDR conditions. Experiments were conducted in a wind tunnel rainfall simulator facility with water sprayed through sprinkler nozzles and free-flowing wind at different velocities to simulate the WDR conditions. Not only for vertical sediment distribution, but a series of experimental tests for horizontal distribution of sediments was also performed using BEST® collectors to obtain the actual total sediment mass flow by the splash-saltation in the center of the wind tunnel test section. Total mass transport (kg m-2) were estimated by analytically integrating the exponential functional relationship using the measured sediment amounts at the set trap heights for every run. Results revealed the integrated efficiency of the BEST® traps at 6, 9, 12 and 15 m s-1 wind velocities under 55.8, 50.5, 55.0 and 50.5 mm h-1 rain intensities were, respectively, 83, 106, 105, and 102%. Results as well showed that the efficiencies of BEST® did not change much as compared with those under rainless wind condition

The impact of democratization on foreign policy the rise and fall of the Turkish-Israeli alliance

Ankara : The Department of International Relations, İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University, 2012.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2012.Includes bibliographical references leaves 123-136.Globalization is affecting state behavior in different ways. The purpose of this study is to understand the ways in which changes in the domestic structures of torn states due to democratization and decentralization and how these affect alliance behavior. By analyzing the Turkish-Israeli alliance through a longitudinal comparative case study comparing system level and state level variables in the 1990s and in the AKP period, the research argues that democratization, which empowers new elites and enables them to articulate and pursue alternative national agendas, leads to unpredictable alliance behavior. The findings suggest that purely systemic theories are not sufficient to address alliances in the contemporary world. Furthermore, the findings also suggest that globalization may be aggravating international anarchy.Erpul, OnurM.S

The effect of vegetation patterns on Aeolian mass flux at regional scale: a wind tunnel study

Although insight on the effect of vegetation pattern on Aeolian mass transport is essential for re-planting degraded land, only limited knowledge on this effect is available. The objective of this research was to understand the effect of vegetation design on the Aeolian mass flux inside a single land unit and at the borders among land units. A simulation of Atriplex halimus shrubs inside a wind tunnel was made, and sand redistribution was measured after the application of 200-230 seconds wind at a speed of 11 ms-1. The study showed that: 1) sediment maximum transport inside a single land unit is related to the neighboring land units and to the vegetation pattern within both the unit itself and the neighboring land units; 2) the effect of neighboring land units includes the protection effect and the ruling of sediment crossing from one land unit to the neighboring land units; 3) for the designing of re-planting of degraded land the ‘streets’ (zones of erosion areas similar to streets) effect need to be considered; and 4) in addition to the general knowledge needed on the effect of vegetation pattern on the erosion and deposition within an area, it is important to have insight on the redistribution of sediment at small scales upon the aim of the project