This thesis aims to analyze the security relations between Turkey and the European Union within the context of enlargement. In this framework, firstly, the historical background of the changing dynamics of their bilateral security relations is studied by focusing both on the Cold War and the Post Cold War periods. In this historical study, more emphasis is put on the Post Cold War period where the changing security understandings of both Turkey and the EU, major developments leading to adoption of new mechanisms by both actors and their impact on their security relations are analyzed. Secondly, after evaluating the importance of security in the European integration and enlargement processes, the security dimension of the Turkish accession, appearing in the official enlargement discourse of the EU actors and in the articles of the leading European think tanks&rsquo / scholars is examined via the use of content analysis method. Following this study, a critical analysis of the given speeches and articles is made. In the last part, the different security roles ascribed to Turkey by the EU actors and scholars in the related speeches and articles are discussed within the framework of Turkey&rsquo / s accession process. Accordingly, it is argued in this thesis that although Turkey&rsquo / s significance for European and regional security is accepted by the EU actors and scholars, this is not properly reflected on its accession process.

The 1990&#039 / s witnessed the emergence of Constructivist approach in the International Relations theory. Constructivism rejecting the rationalist precepts of Neo-Realism and Neo-Liberalism brought a sociological point of view to the world politics mentioned the role of ideational factors in the constitution process of interests and identities. Constructivism assumes that there is a mutual constitution process between states and normative structures in which states internalized existing international societal norms with efforts of international non-state actors seen as active teachers guiding states to initiate policies that are congruent with international civilized norms of behaviour. Today human rights are defined as civilized normative patterns. At this point five phase spiral model reveals itself and introduces explanations for how states understand, interpret and internalize international human rights norms. The model assumes that target state&#039 / s identity, interest and behaviors are influenced by international human rights norms as it progresses through the model&#039 / s five phased spiral process. The model in this process emphasizes roles and efforts of international organizations. v This work assesses the usefulness of the five phase spiral model and Constructivism as an explanation of the changes in the Turkish government&rsquo / s human rights practices. As case study effect of the European Union over normative transformation in the field of human rights in Turkey will be given. The thesis bringing criticisms to the model&rsquo / s assumptions in Turkey case will assert that Turkey, from the 1980 Military intervention to the end of 2007 has made progressive steps in line with the phases mentioned in the spiral model.

Turkey has been one of the few countries that signed the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees with the provision of maintaining geographical limitation to that of offering protection only to European nationals. This is, however, expected to change as Turkey heads towards EU membership. Since 1999, Turkey has been declared as a candidate country to the European Union (EU), in the Helsinki Summit. It is expected to adopt EU Asylum Acquis into its legislation and to lift the geographical limitation of the 1951 Geneva Convention. This study aims to analyze EU&rsquo / s Common Asylum Policy in order to present a comprehensive overview to EU Asylum Acquis and practices that are expected to be adopted by Turkey during the pre-accession process. The aim of this thesis is to analyze deficiencies of European Common Asylum Policy and its potential positive and negative effects on Turkey&rsquo / s asylum policy.

In this study, it is aimed to analyze the learned (ilmiye) group that was important part of the military class of the Ottoman Empire and the ilmiye group had three important members. They were judges (kadis), professors (m&uuml / derrises) and muftis (m&uuml / ft&uuml / s) and they were analyzed from the beginning to the end of the career line as a dynamic process. Due to the vast nature of the subject, one needed to delimit the research in terms of time and space. In that regard, it was chosen the 18th century and the districts belonging to the Anatolian kaz&acirc / skerlik (chief justice). Due also to the impossibility to cover the whole Ottoman eras of six hundred years, the eighteenth century was chosen, the period following the classical period and preceding the era of modernization. This was because the 18th century was the era when the classical institutions of the Ottoman Empire could no longer resist the forces of change. The extent of changes, which took place in this century, might constitute a topic for other researches. On the other hand, the need to delimit the area of research to the Anatolian chief justice (kaz&acirc / skerlik) was a result of technical and methodological necessity.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the current status of computer education in Turkish basic education schools by exploring the perceptions of computer teachers in terms of the policy of new computer education curriculum, which was prepared in 2006, and its actual implementations in schools. The primary aim of the study is to develop a deeper understanding about the effects of new computer education curriculum on the basic education school computer teachers and students, and their perceptions about the effectiveness of the new curriculum. The second aim is to criticize the main barriers and enablers in computer education by comparing the policy of computer education with the existing school practice. In this study, a mixed method research approach including both quantitative and qualitative traditions is employed as the primary research method of the study. A mixed method approach is followed based upon a quantitative method to explore the perceptions of computer teachers and a follow-up qualitative method including document analysis to confirm and complement the quantitative findings. By using both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis techniques, it was aimed to answer the research questions sufficiently in a single study and enhance the reliability and validity of the research results. In this study, firstly, quantitative data was collected by using a questionnaire as a preliminary analysis of computer teachers&rsquo / perceptions regarding new computer education curriculum. Secondly, qualitative data was collected and analyzed to explain and refine the results obtained through quantitative data in the first phase. In addition to the open-ended items in the questionnaire, qualitative data was obtained from the messages posted by computer teachers in online asynchronous discussion forums about the problems they encounter in their profession / and through newspapers about computer education and the occupational problems of computer teachers. The results of the present study reveal that with the introduction of new computer education curriculum, many problems have emerged in the actual implementations of computer education courses in basic education schools. The most important of these problems are results of the elective status of computer education course and the limited time allocated for this course.

In this thesis, an analysis technique for the slot coupled patch antennas using MoM in conjunction with the closed form Green&rsquo / s functions is presented. Slot coupled patch antennas are fed by a microstrip open stub which is coupled to the patch through an electrically small slot. Current distributions over the microstrip line, slot line and the patch are represented by rooftop basis functions. First, a relatively simple structure, microstrip coupled slot line is investigated using the proposed technique. Then the method is extended to the slot coupled patch antenna geometry. By using the method, current distributions on the feedline and the patch are calculated for a generic slot coupled patch antenna. Then by using the distributions, return scattering parameters of the antenna is approximated with complex exponentials using Prony&rsquo / s method. A parametric study is carried out to observe the effect of each antenna component on the antenna performance. Current distributions and return loss calculations are repeated for modified antennas to observe and demonstrate the performance differences. All simulations are verified using HFSS&reg / software and the results available in the literature.

This study aimed at investigating the relationship between English instructors&rsquo / negotiation strategies to handle conflicts in the FLE classroom and personality traits. Two scales which consist of a demographic inventory, two questionnaires and a semi structured interview were developed by the researcher. The first scale consists of &ldquo / Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory II (ROCI II)&rdquo / and &ldquo / Eyesenck Personality Inventory (EPI). The results of these questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS 15.0. This data gathering instrument was implemented on 120 English instructors working at METU, TOBB ETU, &Ccedil / ankaya University, Atilim University, and Trakya University. Data gathered from 30 English instructors from the same universities were used for the piloting of the study. The data gathered from 120 English instructors in English Preparatory Schools represented the results of the main study. In analyzing the data, descriptive statistics as frequency, percent, average, and standard deviation, and inferential statistics as ANOVA was used. As the second scale of the current study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 16 English instructors employed at these universities. The results of the interviews were analyzed through content analysis. The results of the study revealed that there is a relationship between English instructors&rsquo / use of negotiation strategies and their gender, age, educational background, work experience and the personality traits of introversion-extroversion.

Kitchen waste, which is collected in large amounts from cafeterias, restaurants, dining halls, food processing plants, and household kitchens, have become a valuable material for bioprocess engineering. Due to the high carbohydrate fraction, kitchen waste has great potential to be used as a potential substrate for ethanol production. Utilization of it as a raw material in ethanol fermentation would also contribute to reduction of costs. In the first part of this study, the effect of pretreatment method and enzymatic hydrolysis on glucose production was evaluated. Dry baker&rsquo / s yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, was used in fermentation experiments conducted with and without fermentation medium at pH 4.5 and 30oC for 48 hours. Close values of glucose concentration were obtained from no pretreated and hot water treated samples. The fermentation results indicated that ethanol can be produced at similar concentrations in bioreactors with and without fermentation medium addition (p &gt / 0.05). Thus, it is concluded that use of kitchen wastes as is disposed and without fermentation medium in ethanol fermentation could lower the cost to a large extent. In the second part of this study, the effects of solid load, which is proportional to the glucose concentration (10% to 20% (w/w)), inoculum level of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (5% to 15% (v/v)), and fermentation time (48 to 96 h) on production of bioethanol from kitchen waste were studied using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). A three-factor Box Behnken design was used. Ethanol concentration was used as a response in the resulting experimental design. High Pressure Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method was used to determine ethanol and glucose concentrations. The statistical analysis of the constructed model developed by RSM suggested that linear effects of solid load, inoculum level, and fermentation time and quadratic effects of inoculum level and fermentation time were all significant (p &lt / 0.05) on bioethanol production. The model was verified by additional runs, which were not present in the design matrix. It was found that the constructed model could be used to determine successfully the bioethanol concentration with &gt / 90% precision. An optimum ethanol concentration of 32.16 g/L was suggested by the model with 20% (w/w) solid load, 8.85% (v/v) inoculum level and 58.8 hours of fermentation. Further study is needed to evaluate the optimal fermentation conditions in a large scale fermentation

The main purpose of the study was to investigate pre-service elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / personal efficacy beliefs and outcome expectancies about using concrete models in teaching mathematics. Data were collected from the pre-service teachers in the middle of the spring semester of 2008-2009. Pre-service teachers were junior students enrolled in elementary mathematics teaching program at a public university. Six instructional sessions based on using concrete models in teaching mathematics were carried out during a three week period. In this study, the researcher was also the teacher of the instruction at the same time. A survey on pre-service mathematics teachers&rsquo / efficacy beliefs about using concrete models was administered to the students before and after the instruction to evaluate the contribution of the instruction on pre-service teachers&rsquo / efficacies. After the instruction, semi-structured interviews were conducted. The present study demonstrated that the instruction based on using concrete models had positive contributions on the pre-service elementary mathematics teachers&rsquo / self-efficacy beliefs and outcome expectancies about using concrete models in teaching mathematics. In addition, results revealed that pre-service elementary mathematics teachers had confidence in themselves about using concrete models both as learners and as teachers. Moreover, they believed that using concrete models in teaching mathematics would have positive consequences in teaching process and students&rsquo / learning. However, the interview data indicated that, pre-service teachers had relatively low personal efficacies and outcome expectancies about classroom management, when the concrete models were involved in the instruction.

The world political economy passed through sea changes starting from the early-1980s. The transformation of the finance capital was an indispensible and important aspect of this change. Most of the countries in this process adapted themselves in line with the abovementioned transformation and liberalized their financial systems. However, the specific country practises diverged from each other considerably. On the one hand, some of the countries transformed their finance capital as part and parcel of a comprehensive political economy framework. As a result of the strategic involvement of the state (&lsquo / pro-active states&rsquo / ) and the organic interaction between the interest groups in the industrial and financial sphere, the transformation of financial systems materialized within the context of the upward restructuring of the overall political economy structure of these countries. On the other hand, some countries could not establish the productive link between industrial, financial and state elites (&lsquo / reactive states&rsquo / ) and the financial transformation exacerbated the structural problems in the countries in question. As illuminating examples of the former and latter categories, Spain and Turkey represent instructive cases in point. In this regard, the aim of this study is to make a comparative political economy analysis between the transformation of the finance capital in Spain and Turkey and to pinpoint the diverging paths of the political economy structures of these countries.