76 research outputs found
The Impact of Political Factors on Economy and Business in Turkey
No full textThe goal of this research is analyzing the impact of politics on business and economy in Turkey. How influencial are political factors for managers with respect to accretion of the companies? What is the dimension of political consciousness of managers and employees and what kind of regulations can be made? The study is going to enlighten answers to these questions. Total 37 SME managers attended in the study. After collecting the qualitative data within surveys, it was interpreted as quantitative extent through SPSS program. In addition to the normal dispersion and reliability of the data; t-Test, ANCOVA, ANOVA and linear correlation analyses were practiced. Findings demonstrated that the managers of SMEs consider the political factors and they are impacting positively. In regard to categorical variables, mostly bachelor degree graduates, young and middle-aged, both male and female participants indicated that politics is effective on economy and business, but when the detailed statistical analysis is examined between the variables, any significant data cannot be observed
Africa's Silk Road : China and India's New Economic Frontier
No full textAs illustrated in Africa's Silk
Road: China and India's New Economic Frontier, the new
South-South economic relations present real opportunities-as
well as challenges-to African countries. They also highlight
the need for complementary reforms by China and India to
support more vigorous African development. In analyzing
Africa's intensifying relationships with China and
India, Africa's Silk Road examines the trends to date
and considers the implications of these developments for the
economic future of the African continent. The diagnosis
cautions that the opportunities engendered by China and
India's trade and investment with Africa will not
necessarily be converted into growth and poverty reduction
in the region. A critical finding of the study is that it is
not just the quantity of these trade and investment flows
that matters-it is also the quality of the overall
commercial relationships underlying as well as shaping these
flows. This paper contains the following headings:
connecting two continents; performance and patterns of
African-Asian trade and investment flows; challenges at the
border - Africa and Asia's trade and investment
policies; behind-the-border constraints on African-Asian
trade and investment flows; between-the-border factors in
African-Asian trade and investment; and investment-trade
linkages in African-Asian commerce - scale, integration, and
production networks
Policy Responses to Financial Crises: Capital Controls as an Alternative to IMF-Programs
No full textThe purpose of this study is to compare the post–treatment economic performances of countries which implemented IMF- designed recovery programs, and the counterfactual, all-encompassing capital and exchange controls, as a policy response to financial crisis. By doing so, I aim to find out which policy response provides crisis-hit countries better assistance in the short-run recovery process.
I extend the scope of the Rodrik & Kaplan study by including additional IMF-assisted crisis countries Turkey, Brazil and Russia, and using them as comparators to Malaysia, which embarked on a range of strict capital and exchange controls.
By employing a time shifted difference–in-differences model, I obtain empirical evidence, consistent with the findings of Rodrik & Kaplan, which are overwhelmingly in favour of the capital controls as a provider of quicker and more successful recovery in the short-run.
When I test and correct for serial correlation using the quasi-differencing method, I find that the initial results which were highly in accord with the Malaysia capital controls, still prove to be more successful than IMF-designed orthodox programs, but are in fact a lot less successful than regression results had first implied
Security in a sea of insecurity: job security and intention to stay among service sector employees in Turkey
No full textThis article examines the association between job security and intention to stay for those who are employed in Turkey. There is a high level of unemployment in the country and many workers there are concerned about their job security. Job security refers to the objective dimensions of continuous contract, working full-time hours and paid and unpaid overtime. Job security also refers to the subjective dimension of perceived job security. We surveyed 407 employees in banking and related sectors' call centres, five-star hotel front-line staff and airline cabin crews. Results show that objective dimensions of job security are not associated with intention to stay. However, perceived job security is significantly and positively associated with intention to stay. We recommend that human resource managers focus on the perceived job security aspect of employment to keep valuable employees with the company
Integrated Production and Transportation Scheduling Problem With Multiple Plants, Multiple Vehicles and Perishable Products
No full textThe integrated production and transportation scheduling problem is one of the interesting topics in the literature. This paper addresses Integrated Production and Transportation Scheduling Problems with Multiple Plants, Multiple Vehicles, and Perishable Products (PTSP-MP-MV). To the best of our knowledge, this problem has not been studied in the literature. In this problem, each plant has a different capacity and a different production rate. There is a single machine and a limited number of homogeneous vehicles in each plant. Each vehicle can be used more than once because of the vehicle capacity and planning horizon restrictions. Only one type of product is produced, and this product has a limited lifespan. The objective of the problem is to minimize the total cost including production, distribution, and vehicle costs. We propose a mixed integer programming (MIP) formulation for the problem and strengthen it with several valid inequalities to improve lower bounds. The performance of the formulation is calculated using a newly generated set of test instances. Computational results show that small-sized instances with 5 and 10 customers can be solved optimally in less than 90 s. Satisfactory results are obtained for the test instances up to 20 customers whose optimality gap values are calculated as 0.54% nearly 1 h. It is also shown that the valid inequalities are improved lower bounds about 3%. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.Acknowledgements. This study is derived from the author Gozde CAN ATASA-GUN’s PhD thesis entitled “The Coordinated Production and Transportation Scheduling Problem with Multiple Plants and Multiple Vehicles” (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Ismail KARAOGLAN) which is supported by Konya Technical University Coordinatorship of Scientific Research Projects with the project number of 18101021 and has not been published elsewhere.Konya Teknik Üniversitesi, KTÜN: 1810102
Job satisfaction, flexible employment and job security among Turkish service sector workers
No full textThis article examines the association between job satisfaction, flexible employment and job security among Turkish service sector workers. Data come from a survey of workers in banking and related sectors' call centres, frontline five-star hotel staff and airline cabin crews (N = 407). Results show that flexible employment involving fixed-term contract, paid and unpaid overtime, on-call work and mismatched contract and hours are not associated with job satisfaction. Perceived job security is positively associated with job satisfaction. The study provides evidence that the perception of job security rather than flexible employment is an important contributor to job satisfaction for Turkish workers in the sample
Ionic Liquid Based Dispersive Liquid-Liquid Microextraction for Preconcentration of Zearalenone and Its Determination in Beer and Cereal Samples by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography with Fluorescence Detection
No full textA simple, fast, and efficient ionic liquid based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction has been developed for the determination of trace amounts of zearalenone for the first time. Preconcentrated zearalenone was determined by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detector. Two ionic liquids, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide and 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide were used as extraction solvents. Several analytical parameters affecting the extraction efficiency such as sample pH, type, and volume of dispersive solvent, volume of ionic liquid, time of extraction, and centrifugation were optimized. The 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide showed the better extraction efficiency. Thus, the method validation and the application of the method to real samples were carried out with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide. Under the optimum conditions, the calibration curve for zearalenone determination was linear in the range of 1-750 mu gL(-1)(R-2=0.9960) and the limit of detection was 0.25 mu gL(-1) for zearalenone. The inter-day and intra-day precisions of the developed method were in the range of 1.36-3.02%. The method was successfully applied to beer and cereal (wheat and corn) samples. The recovery percentages of zearalenone for spiked samples were between were 80.0 and 100.0%
Systematic Integration Of Urban Farming Into Urban Metabolisms: Waste As A Resource For Urban Food Production
No full textAs the global population rise, climate conditions get more and more unpredictable, natural resources deplete; cities need to take action in order to sustain healthy living conditions as well as to ensure food safety. Currently, cities are solely dependent on external sources and suburban areas for natural resources and food as well as waste management. This linear metabolism results in cities consuming 60-80% of natural resources and producing 50% of waste globally. (Tsui et al., 2021) This problem can be overcome by introducing urban farming into cities by utilising waste and underused space as a resource for urban food production. Waste can be circulated in the city in order to generate a network of waste producing functions and farms. There are urban farming systems which can digest waste and produce supplements for urban food production. However, the quest of choosing an urban farming system based on existing vacant spaces and waste flows is a complicated task. The complexity is a result of variables in the equation which may effect decision making such as different systems, waste types, vacant space characteristics as well as the size of spaces and the quantity of available waste. Moreover, in sites consisting of numerous vacant spaces and waste sources decision making is even more complex and laborious. If human designers were to perform this task then they would need to iterate countless times for each vacant space, each waste source close to it and each potential urban farming systems. However, when it comes iterating and repeating the same steps, computers are explicitly faster, time-efficient and error free. Therefore a decision making tool which can assist designers to choose urban farming systems based on existing conditions can be a practical resource. This paper investigates how to integrate urban farming into cities by utilising under-used spaces and existing waste sources via using a decision making tool. The design rules and the methodology are formed based on literature review regarding different farming systems, varying waste flows and computational approaches. A prototype of the tool is generated and tested on 2 case studies in order to showcase the potential of such an approach combining food production with waste management. Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Building Technology | Sustainable Desig
Bacterial vaginosis in association with spontaneous abortion and recurrent pregnancy losses
No full textContext: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is related to the increased risk of miscarriage, preterm labor, and postpartum endometritis.
Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between BV and the history of spontaneous abortion and recurrent pregnancy losses. We also examined periods of gestation, including the first and second trimester miscarriages.
Materials and Methods: The study population consisted of 200 fertile women. Sixty one (30.5%) of 200 women had the history of a spontaneous abortion in the last six months (N = 30) and at least three recurrent pregnancy losses (N = 31). BV was diagnosed either by using Papanicolaou staining, Gram staining, or by culturing with BV-associated bacteria, Gardnerella vaginalis.
Results: The presence of BV was statistically associated with the history of a spontaneous abortion in the last 6 months (P 0.05). These women were also evaluated in view of periods of gestation. Forty-seven (77%) of 61 women had first trimester miscarriage (≤12 weeks) and 14 (23%) of 61 women had second trimester miscarriage (>12 weeks). There was a statistically significant relationship between BV and second trimester miscarriage (P 0.05).
Conclusion: BV may contribute to spontaneous abortion and second trimester miscarriage
Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) and Their Relevance in Oral Health
No full textThe number and popularity of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and especially e-cigarettes (e-cigs) have been increasing in the last decade. Although ENDS owe their popularity to excluding the harmful chemicals that are present in tobacco smoke, there is a debate whether they are safe, regulated, and as harmless as they are assumed to be and have potential unknown long-term effects. Involvement of cigarette smoking to the progression of periodontal diseases, other adverse oral health outcomes, and its detrimental effects to oral health are well-described. ENDS producer companies claim that these products can improve oral health by providing alternatives to smoking. However, the effect of e-cigs on oral health is not fully understood and is still debated among many scientists and clinicians. The number of studies addressing the potential toxic effect of ENDS or e-cig aerosol on oral cells is limited along with the clinical studies which are still preliminary, and their sample size is limited. The long-term effects of inhaled aerosols and the potential synergistic effect of the e-cigs components are not known. It is essential and of utmost importance to determine whether exposure to ENDS aerosol contributes to the progression of periodontal diseases and how it affects periodontal ligament and gingival cells which are believed to be its first targets. This review briefly summarizes the available evidence about the effects of e-cigs on periodontal health including several pathophysiological events, such as oxidative stress, DNA damage, inflammation, cellular senescence, dysregulated repair, and periodontal diseases
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