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The function of humor and ideological discourse in Turkish Islamist humor magazines: the case of Misvak
No full textThis article focuses on the ideological discourse of Misvak, one of Turkey's most popular Islamist humor magazines in the 2000s. By analyzing the magazine’s cartoons, it first attempts to reveal the general characteristics and function of humor in Misvak. It then discusses how Islamism is presented as the primary ideological position in the magazine. In order to uncover absences and silences in the discourse, the purpose of the study is also to investigate whether there is discursive parallelism between the magazine and the AKP government by analyzing visual texts while positioning the magazine within debates over hegemony
Underwater Muon Detection System to Measure Coastal Mixed Layer Depth for Ocean and Climate Studies
No full textEnhancing Cognitive Fit: Exploring the Potential of Mixed Reality for Developing Mental Rotation Skills
No full textMixed Reality is a promising venue for spatial ability training, allowing participants to engage in problem-solving through gesture-based interactions with holographic objects. 3-D measurement of learning in Mixed Reality environments may result in a better cognitive fit than 2-D. This mixed-method study measures and enhances mental rotation ability and investigates user experience in Mixed Reality. To assess mental rotation ability, we adapted the Purdue Spatial Visualization Test:Rotation for Microsoft HoloLens 2, creating a measurement tool for our Mixed Reality-based training program, Holomental. Comparing 2-D and 3-D tests, we explored how stimulus dimensionality influences accuracy and cognitive load. Our findings indicate that Holomental enhances mental rotation performance, both in 2-D and 3-D. Cognitive load in the 3-D test was lower than in the 2-D test. Semi-structured interviews revealed participants’ appreciation for the representational and interactional affordances of the training environment. This study provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of 3-D spatial training, with implications and suggestions for future design considerations
A Content Analysis of Gender Portrayals in Turkish Children’s Picturebooks
No full textThe study aims to explore the portrayal of gender and the representation of gender roles in picturebooks written for children aged 3–6 in Turkey, with a view to assessing whether these gender portrayals include gender stereotypes that may affect children from early ages and onwards. It examines 45 children’s picturebooks published in the last 10 years in Turkey and written for children aged 3–6. The texts and illustrations of the selected books are examined thematically in terms of parental activities, other activities of adults, activities of children, and play types and toys using content analysis. The findings demonstrate that, despite significant international trends to tackle gender stereotypes and encourage a gender-neutral representation in children’s picturebooks to enhance gender-conscious child development, the male and female characters in the books are still stereotypically represented in Turkey, parallel to the larger approach to gender equality, perpetuating the traditional understanding of gender roles
Untangling the complexities of larval Antarctic krill overwintering success under climate change
No full textAntarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are integral to Southern Ocean pelagic ecosystems. Winters with extensive sea ice have been linked to high post-larval krill recruitment the following spring, suggesting that sea ice plays a critical role in larval overwinter survival. As the ocean warms and sea ice declines under climate change, understanding the mechanisms linking sea ice and krill recruitment is increasingly urgent. To address this, we developed a qualitative network model (QNM) that integrates evidence-based and hypothesized interactions to explore larval overwinter survival and growth under future climate scenarios in the southwest Atlantic sector. Our model highlights habitat-specific impacts, with substantial declines predicted for the North Antarctic Peninsula continental shelf due to reduced autumn primary productivity and warming. In contrast, survival may improve in open-ocean habitats under cooler scenarios that enhance sea-ice-associated processes, such as food availability and refuge. The inclusion of hypothesized mechanisms, such as sea-ice terraces providing refuge from predation, strengthened these conclusions and highlighted critical uncertainties, including the influence of glacial melt on food web dynamics. These findings demonstrate the value of QNMs in complementing quantitative approaches, offering a framework for identifying critical mechanisms, addressing knowledge gaps, and guiding future field and laboratory studies to improve predictions of krill responses to climate change
SPECIFICATION TESTS FOR TIME-VARYING COEFFICIENT PANEL DATA MODELS
No full textThis paper provides nonparametric specification tests for the commonly used homogeneous and stable coefficients structures in panel data models. We first obtain the augmented residuals by estimating the model under the null hypothesis and then run auxiliary time series regressions of augmented residuals on covariates with time-varying coefficients (TVCs) via sieve methods. The test statistic is then constructed by averaging the squared fitted values, which are close to zero under the null and deviate from zero under the alternatives. We show that the test statistic, after being appropriately standardized, is asymptotically normal under the null and under a sequence of Pitman local alternatives. A bootstrap procedure is proposed to improve the finite sample performance of our test. In addition, we extend the procedure to test other structures, such as the homogeneity of TVCs or the stability of heterogeneous coefficients. The joint test is extended to panel models with two-way fixed effects. Monte Carlo simulations indicate that our tests perform reasonably well in finite samples. We apply the tests to re-examine the environmental Kuznets curve in the United States, and find that the model with homogenous TVCs is more appropriate for this application
Kronotop, Diyalog ve Simülasyon: Memet Baydur’un Kamyon’u Üzerine Yeni Bir Bakış
No full textBu makalede Memet Baydur’un 1990 senesinde kaleme aldığı Kamyon isimli iki bölümlük tiyatro oyunu çözümlenmekte ve temel yapısal özellikleri çerçevesinde yorumlanmaktadır. Kamyon oyununda bir yük kamyonunun ıssız bir yolda arızalanması sonucu kamyonda çalışan kişiler ve köylüler arasındaki ilişkiler bağlamında gelişen olaylar konu edilmekte, karakterler çözümsüz bir durum içerisinde beklemekte ve bekleyiş döngüleri Türkiye’nin siyasal ve toplumsal dönüşümleri ile izdüşümler taşımaktadır. Bu çerçevede ilk olarak oyunun kronotop yapısı, bu yapının üzerine kurulduğu edimsel, söylemsel ve imgesel öğeler ele alınmış, ikinci olarak ise oyunun söylemsel içeriğinin taşıyıcısı olan diyalojik etkileşimler serimlenmiştir. Diyalojik etkileşimlerin yoğunlaştığı ve ‘oyun içinde oyun’ olarak adlandırılabilecek bölümler oyunun genel sosyo- kültürel bağlamı ve karakterlerin taşıyıcısı oldukları siyasal çelişkiler bakımından özel olarak yorumlanmıştır. Oyunun genel yapısının simülatif özellikler göstermesi sebebiyle, yapısal ve içeriksel özelliklerin simülakra düzenini şekillendirmedeki rolleri incelenmiş ve oyunun anlam dünyası açısından konumu anlaşılmaya çalışılmıştır. Araştırmanın vardığı temel sonuç oyunun eleştirel bir simülasyon olarak kurulduğu, son tahlilde seksenli yıllar sonrası Türkiye’sini merkeze alan bir sosyo-politik arka plan ve fin de siècle (çağın kapanışı) teması etrafında şekillendiğidir. Sonuç olarak bu makalede Kamyon oyunu metin temelli bir analize ve yorumlamaya tabi tutulmaktadır ve bu yolla oyunun anlamı izleyiciler için yeniden inşa edilmeye çalışılmaktadır.This article analyzes Kamyon, the two-act play by Memet Baydur in 1990, and interprets it within its basic structural features. Kamyon deals with the events that develop in the context of the relationships between the workers and the villagers after a cargo truck breaks down on a deserted road; the characters wait in an unresolved situation, and the cycles of waiting bear reflections of Türkiye’s political and social transformations. Within this framework, first, the chronotope structure of the play and the performative, discursive and imaginative elements on which this structure is built, are discussed. Secondly, the dialogical interactions that are the carriers of the discursive content of the play are presented. The sections where dialogical interactions are concentrated and can be called ‘play within the play’ are specifically interpreted in terms of the general socio- cultural context of the play and the political contradictions that the characters are holders of. Since the general structure of the play exhibits simulative features, the roles of structural and content-based features in shaping the simulacra order were examined and their composition in the play in terms of the world of meaning was attempted to be understood. The primary conclusion reached by the research is that the play was established as a critical simulation, in the final analysis, it was shaped around a socio-political background centered on Türkiye after the eighties, and a fin de siècle theme. As a result, in this article, Kamyon is subjected to a text-based analysis and interpretation, and in this manner, the meaning of the play is attempted to be reconstructed for the audience.</div
Investigating the behavior of D-glucose, D-fructose, and D-allulose in aqueous media by molecular dynamics simulations
No full textIsomeric monosaccharides may have different hydration behaviors, leading to distinct physicochemical properties in solutions. In this work, the aqueous behavior, structure, and hydration properties of D-allulose, D-glucose, and D-fructose were investigated as a function of concentration by molecular dynamics simulations. This is the first computational study investigating D-allulose compared to its two isomers. The dynamics were analyzed through self-diffusion coefficients; hydration was characterized by hydrogen bond (HB) analyses. Radial distribution functions were used to probe water structuring around sugar oxygens. Results show the hydration number and the fraction of bound water in solution were the highest for glucose, followed by fructose and allulose. The C3 epimerization of fructose into allulose highly promotes the allulose pyranoses to form intramolecular HBs, significantly limiting their water-holding capacity. This may possibly explain the favorability of furanose forms over pyranose forms in aqueous allulose solutions, opposing glucose and fructose in solution
