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Application of the Fuzzy Mcdm Model for the Selection of a Multifunctional Machine for Sustainable Waste Management
No full textIn the sustainability concept, one of the most important areas is sustainable waste management, a system that significantly impacts both economic and social well-being. The aim of this paper is to create a unique model that can contribute to better and more promising waste management in local governments in order to increase the level of sustainability. The scientific contribution and novelty of this research is reflected in developing the Fuzzy M-FullEX (Modified Fuller's triangle approach extended) method for defining fuzzy weight coefficients of criteria and its integration with the Fuzzy ROV (range of value) method for ranking multifunctional machines. The unique model developed in this study encompasses 10 criteria and seven alternative solutions, including the two aforementioned Fuzzy MCDM (multi-criteria decision-making) methods and the Bonferroni operator for averaging expert assessments. The results of the Fuzzy M-FullEX-Fuzzy ROV model based on the preferences of three experts define the best multifunctional machine for efficient and sustainable waste management, which is the Venieri. The rankings are as follows: M1 > M3 > M2 > M4 > M5 > M6 > M7. The obtained results were confirmed through extensive analysis (sensitivity, comparative analysis, correlation coefficients, different matrix size) and discussion.Science Citation Index Expanded - Social Science Citation Inde
Cooperative Mission Planning for Multiple Aerial and Ground Vehicles Based on Evolutionary Computation
No full textThe limited flight endurance of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) necessitates multiple battery replacements to complete long-duration missions. In this paper, we address the cooperative mission planning of multiple UAVs and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), where UAVs are tasked with visiting a predetermined set of waypoints, and UGVs act as mobile battery replenishment platforms. The objective is to determine a cooperative mission plan that minimizes the overall mission completion time while respecting UAV flight time constraints. To this end, the mission is decomposed into a set of flight-and-recharge segments, and a genetic algorithm is applied to solve the resulting optimization problem. The proposed approach is evaluated using real-world datasets from three different operational areas. Extensive experiments are conducted to analyze parameter settings and validate the robustness of the method. Simulation results show that the algorithm adapts to variations in mission layout and can efficiently plan large-scale missions with thousands of waypoints, involving multiple UAVs and UGVs. A comparative study demonstrates that the proposed method achieves mission times very close to optimal solutions with a single-robot pair and remains competitive with a theoretical lower bound in multi-robot scenarios
Refugees and Migrants in Contemporary Film, Art and Media
No full textMigration in the 21st century is one of the pre-eminent issues of our present historical moment, a phenomenon that has acquired new urgency with accelerating climate change, civil wars, and growing economic scarcities. Refugees and Migrants in Contemporary Film, Art and Media consists of eleven essays that explore how artists have imaginatively engaged with this monumental human drama, examining a range of alternative modes of representation that provide striking new takes on the experiences of these precarious populations. Covering prominent art works by Ai Weiwei and Richard Mosse, and extending the spectrum of representation to refugee film workshops on the island of Lésbos as well as virtual reality installations of Alejandro G. Iñárritu and works by Balkan and Turkish directors, such as Melisa Önel, the chapters included here focus on the power of aesthetic engagement to illuminate the stories of refugees and migrants in ways that overturn journalistic clichés. © 2022 The authors/Taylor & Francis Group
Beyond the Screen: The Impact of TV Series on Visit and Purchase Intentions
No full textPurposeDrawing on parasocial relationship theory and the meaning transfer model, this study suggests and tests an original model that examines viewers' intentions to visit a destination and purchase destination origin products, considering cultural proximity, celebrity involvement, enjoyment, country knowledge obtained via TV series and perceived product experience.Design/methodology/approachTurkish TV dramas were selected as the research context due to the increased global attention in the last decades. A field survey was conducted on foreign tourists in T & uuml;rkiye. The research model was tested with PLS-SEM.FindingsCultural proximity is positively related to celebrity involvement and enjoyment, influencing country knowledge and the intention to purchase the country's products. Celebrity involvement and country knowledge positively influence visit intentions. Moreover, the perceived product experience is positively related to purchase intentions.Practical implicationsTV dramas can significantly leverage international purchase intentions and promote destination-specific products in global markets, particularly with celebrity endorsements. Producers and marketers can strategically integrate cultural and local elements into TV dramas to enhance destination marketing strategies.Social implicationsTV dramas can deepen intercultural understanding by enhancing foreign viewers' knowledge of the origin country's culture, values, and lifestyle. By building emotional connections through media characters, countries can develop positive perceptions of each other and develop social affinities with one another, which can impact travel and consumption patterns.Originality/valueThis study shows the positive impact of TV series enjoyment on the country knowledge and perceived product experience regarding the origin country of TV dramas
Hollywood Is Everywhere: Global Directors in the Blockbuster Era
No full textHollywood has a long tradition of bringing in emigre directors from around the world, dating back to the silent era. Today, as the film industry is ever more global, the people who make blockbuster movies seemingly reflect this tradition, hailing from many countries across the world. But that fact hides a fundamental difference, one that Melis Behlil examines in Hollywood is Everywhere: today's Hollywood studios are themselves transnational, with ownership structures and financial arrangements that stretch far beyond the borders of the United States. Seen in that context, today's international directors are less analogous to the emigre talent of the past than to ordinary transnational employees of other major global corporations. © M. Behlil / Taylor & Francis Group 2016. All rights reserved
Irony Comprehension in 6, 7, and 8-year-old Children: Relationship Between Theory of Mind, Cognitive Flexibility, and L2 Proficiency
No full textİroni konuşmacının ifadelerinin gerçek (literal) anlamından farklı ve çoğu zaman çelişkili bir anlamı kastettiği bir dil kullanımıdır. İroniyi anlamak, çocukların bağlamı yorumlama ve konuşmacının niyetini kavrama gibi gelişmiş pragmatik dil işleme becerilerini kullanmalarını gerektirir. Bu tez, 6 ila 8 yaş (M = 6.84, SS = .75) aralığındaki çocukların ironi anlama becerilerinin, ikinci dil (D2-İngilizce) yeterlilikleri ve zihin kuramı ve bilişsel esneklik gibi sosyal-bilişsel becerileri ile ilişkili olup olmadığını incelemiştir. Anadili Türkçe olan ve ikinci dil olarak İngilizce öğrenen 117 çocuk katılımcı olarak yer almıştır. Katılımcılar, İngilizcenin eğitim programlarında devlet okullarına kıyasla daha yoğun yer aldığı özel okullardan seçilmiştir. Çocuklara, basit ve karmaşık düzeylerde ironi ifadeleri içeren kısa hikâyelerden oluşan bir ironi anlama testi uygulanmıştır. İroni ifadelerinin anlaşılırlığı, çoktan seçmeli ve açık uçlu sorularla değerlendirilmiştir. Ayrıca, anadil yeterliliği (Erken Dil Gelişimi Testi–TEDİL), ikinci dil yeterliliği (Erken Dil Gelişimi Testi – Üçüncü Versiyon'un orijinal İngilizce formu), bilişsel zihin kuramı (Garip Hikâyeler Görevi), duygusal zihin kuramı (NEPSY-II Duygu Tanıma Alt Testi), ve bilişsel esneklik (Boyut Değiştirme Kart Sıralama Testi-sınır versiyonu) değerlendirilmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular, çocukların en yüksek başarıyı literal ifadelerde, ardından basit ironide, en düşük başarıyı ise karmaşık ironide gösterdiğini ortaya koymuştur. Bilişsel esnekliğin yalnızca karmaşık ironiyle ilişkili olduğu bulunmuştur; bu da bilişsel esnekliğin daha yüksek bilişsel talep gerektiren ironi biçimlerini anlamada daha çok rol oynayabileceğini göstermektedir. İkinci dil yeterliliği ise hem bilişsel hem de duygusal zihin kuramını anlamlı şekilde yordarken; bilişsel esneklikle anlamlı bir ilişkisi bulunmamıştır. Bunun yanında, ikinci dil yeterliliği ironi anlama becerisini doğrudan yordamamıştır, ancak bilişsel zihin kuramı becerisi üzerinden dolaylı bir etkide bulunmuştur. Duygu tanıma ve bilişsel esnekliğin ise bu ilişkide aracı rol oynamadığı görülmüştür. Bu bulgular, iki dilliğin özellikle zihinsel durumları anlama becerileri yoluyla pragmatik dil gelişimini destekleyebileceğini göstermektedir.Irony use in language involves a discrepancy between the literal meaning of an utterance and the speaker's intended meaning. Understanding irony requires children to engage in pragmatic language processing, such as interpreting context, recognizing speaker intention, and inferring implied meanings. This thesis examined the relationship between irony comprehension in the first language (L1-Turkish) with cognitive abilities (theory of mind and cognitive flexibility) and second language (L2-English) proficiency in 6- to 8-year-old children (M = 6.84, SD = .75). A total of 117 children who attend English-intensive private schools participated in this study. Children completed an irony comprehension task involving short stories with simple and complex forms of irony expressions. Responses were measured by both open-ended and multiple-choice questions assessing children's understanding of ironic expressions. Additionally, L1-Turkish proficiency (Turkish adaptation of the Test of Early Language Development-Third Edition), L2-English proficiency (Test of Early Language Development-Third Edition), cognitive Theory of Mind (ToM) (Strange Stories task), affective ToM (NEPSY-II Affect Recognition subtest), and cognitive flexibility (border version of the Dimensional Change Card Sort test) were assessed. Findings revealed that children performed best on literal items, followed by simple irony, and worst on complex irony. Both cognitive ToM and cognitive flexibility significantly predicted irony comprehension. Cognitive flexibility was related only to complex irony, suggesting its role in processing more demanding forms. L2 proficiency significantly predicted both cognitive and affective ToM, but not cognitive flexibility. Importantly, L2 proficiency predicted irony comprehension indirectly through only cognitive ToM. This suggests that bilingualism may support irony comprehension through enhancing children's ToM abilities. Finally, integrating mentalizing tasks into bilingual education may help support the development of higher-order pragmatic skills such as irony in school-aged children
A Multi-Dimensional Technique for Predicting the Severity of Depression and Anxiety Disorders Among Social Media Users Using a Deep Learning-Based Model
No full textModern dünyada, depresyon ve kaygı gibi ruhsal bozukluklar önemli bir halk sağlığı sorunu haline gelmiştir. Belirtilerin erken tanımlanması ve müdahalesi hayati öneme sahip olsa da, geleneksel klinik değerlendirmeler maliyetli olup etiketleme eksikliğinden muzdariptir. Instagram gibi sosyal medya platformları; görseller, altyazılar, biyografi bilgileri, profil fotoğrafları, etkileşim istatistikleri ve paylaşım örüntüleri gibi, ruh sağlığı belirtilerini gösteren zengin çok modlu veriler sunmaktadır. Ancak mevcut tanı yöntemleri genellikle büyük, tek modlu veri kümelerine dayanmakta ve yalnızca küçük, klinik olarak doğrulanmış kohortlar mevcut olduğunda yeterli genelleştirilebilirlik sağlayamamaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Instagram kullanıcıları arasında depresyon ve kaygı şiddetini tahmin etmek için çok modlu few‑shot sınıflandırma çerçevesi (FS‑MMN) önerilmektedir. PHQ‑9 ve GAD‑7 anketlerini doldurup aydınlatılmış onam veren ve Instagram hesaplarına erişim izni sağlayan 137 yetişkin gönüllü işe alındı. Metin, görsel ve davranışsal modlarda 'küçük ancak kapsamlı' bir veri seti elde etmek üzere özenli ön işleme ve özellik mühendisliği uygulandıktan sonra, epizodik makro F1 hedefiyle optimize edilmiş, prototip‑tabanlı çok kollu füzyon modeli tasarlandı. Deneysel sonuçlar, veri kullanım verimliliğinin ve modelin genelleştirilebilirliğinin yüksek olduğunu göstermektedir. PHQ‑9 ölçeğine dayalı depresyon şiddeti tahmininde FS‑MMN modeli; 1, 2, 4, 8 ve 16‑shot senaryolarında sırasıyla 0.565, 0.627, 0.719, 0.825 ve 0.851 makro F1 değerleri elde ederek temel yöntemlerin üzerinde performans göstermiştir. GAD‑7 ölçeğine dayalı kaygı şiddeti tahmininde de aynı shot senaryolarında sırasıyla 0.536, 0.593, 0.683, 0.760 ve 0.764 makro F1 değerleri yakalayarak ağaç tabanlı yöntemleri. Bu bulgular, FS‑MMN'in dikkat‑tabanlı füzyon ve prototip‑tabanlı kenar eğitimi ile çok kollu tasarımının, sosyal ağ verileri üzerinde çok örnekli öğrenme ile depresyon ve kaygı şiddeti tahmininde yeni bir standart sunduğunu doğrulamaktadır.In the modern world, mental disorders such as depression and anxiety have become significant public health challenges. Early identification and intervention of symptoms are crucial, but traditional clinical assessments are costly and suffer from a lack of labeling. Social media platforms such as Instagram offer rich multimodal data, including images, captions, bios, profile photos, engagement statistics, and posting patterns, that can serve as indicators of mental health symptoms. However, existing identification methods typically rely on large, single-modality datasets and lack appropriate generalizability when only small, clinically validated cohorts are available. This study proposes a multi-modal few-shot classification framework (FS-MMN) for predicting the severity of depression and anxiety among Instagram users. We recruited 137 adult volunteers who completed the designed informed consent form and the PHQ-9 and GAD-7 questionnaires and were granted access to their Instagram accounts. After performing careful preprocessing and feature engineering, resulting in a 'small but extensive' dataset across text, image, and behavioral modalities, we designed a prototype-based multi-branch fusion model optimized for the episodic macro F1 goal. The experimental results demonstrate the high efficiency of data utilization and the generalizability of the model. In estimating depression severity based on the PHQ-9 scale, the FS-MMN model achieved macro F1 values of 0.565, 0.627, 0.719, 0.825, and 0.851 in shots 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16, respectively, which outperforms the baseline state-of-the-art methods. For estimating anxiety severity based on the GAD-7 scale, FS-MMN also achieved macro F1 values of 0.536, 0.593, 0.683, 0.760, and 0.764, respectively, in the same shots, again outperforming base-line methods. These findings confirm that the multi-branch design of FS-MMN with attention-based fusion and prototype-based edge-based training provides a new standard in estimating depression and anxiety severity with multi-sample learning on social network data
Women's Representation in Top-Management Positions in the Energy Sector: a Case Study of Türkiye and Nigeria's Petroleum Industries
No full textWomen's representation in top-management positions remains a critical issue in various sectors, including the energy industry, where gender equity has historically been limited. This study critically examines the representation of women in top-management roles within the petroleum sectors of T & uuml;rkiye and Nigeria, two countries with contrasting gender equity landscapes. In particular, the study asks: "To what extent are women in Nigeria and T & uuml;rkiye's petroleum industry underrepresented, and what factors contribute to the underrepresentation of women in management positions in the countries' petroleum sectors? The research utilized quantitative and qualitative data, focusing on female employment statistics and qualitative claims on diversity, equity, and inclusion from company websites regarding their diversity and inclusion efforts. Data was collected from five leading oil and gas companies in T & uuml;rkiye and six in Nigeria, covering 2018-2023. The findings reveal that while some companies in Nigeria show promising strides toward gender balance, many Turkish companies continue to exhibit substantial gender gaps, particularly in senior management. These disparities reflect broader global trends and underscore the need for targeted interventions. Additionally, the theme from the qualitative analysis hints at a potential gap between rhetoric and practice. The analyses show that the diversity, equity, and inclusion statements do not necessarily translate into measurable outcomes. Consequently, the study concludes with actionable suggestions for policymakers to enhance female representation and to implement policies that challenge existing stereotypes and support career advancement for women in the industry.Social Science Citation Inde
Influence of a Perspective Oriented Task, Executive Function, and Trait Perspective Taking on Efl Writing
No full textThis study adopted a cognitive approach and investigated the effect of a writing task on the passages composed by B2-level EFL learners by considering their executive function and trait perspective-taking capabilities. The experimental group was exposed to a perspective-oriented writing task. Most importantly, they were asked to read three short messages shared by their audience, then take their perspective and write down whatever came to their minds. A perspective-neutral control group was also asked to read the messages but was not encouraged to take the audience's perspective. They were just asked to write down whatever came to their minds. Then, both groups tried to write a convincing passage and completed four executive function tasks and a trait perspective-taking scale. The results revealed that exposing B2-level EFL learners to a perspective-oriented task increased the overall writing quality of the participants if they have high executive function or trait perspective-taking capabilities. These findings confirm the importance of a task for directing and managing cognitive resources and show the executive function's central role and trait perspective-taking's importance in writing. The tasks that encourage employing these individual resources may enrich the instructor toolboxes.Social Science Citation Inde