Economic events of this era reflect the fact that the value of information and technology has surpassed the value of physical production. This motivates countries to focus on increasing the education levels of citizens. However, policy making about education system and its returns requires dynamical analyses in order to be sustainable. The study aims to investigate the dynamic characteristics of a country-wide education system, in particular, that of Turkey. System Dynamics modeling, which is one of the most commonly referred tools for understanding the complex social structures, is used. Our model introduces dynamic relationships among different classes of labor forces with varying education levels, university admissions, research quality, and the investments made in education, research and other sectors. Model experimentation provides new insights into the investment and capacity-related aspects of the education system environment.

Dynamic complexity occurs in every social structure. Film industry, as a type of creative industries, constitutes a dynamic environment where uncertainty is at high levels. This complexity of the environment renders the more traditional operations research models somewhat ineffective, and thus, requires a dynamic analysis. In this study, a model showing the dynamics of film exhibition is given. The interactions within and between the theatrical and the DVD sales channels are implemented by the model. Later on, the possible effects of piracy to the model are discussed, using the inferences obtained by the created model. The model is examined with scenario and sensitivity analysis. All the modeling studies are done with a commercial dynamic systems modeling software. The model also can be extended for the whole film industry, or for some other creative industries like the publishing industry.

Les recherches sur l'apprentissage informel de l'anglais en ligne (AIAL) étudient la manière dont des locuteurs non natifs de l’anglais participent aux activités de loisir sur Internet en langue étrangère et les implications que ces interactions peuvent avoir pour le développement de la langue étrangère. Cette thèse a pour objectif d’examiner l’envergure de ces pratiques et d’analyser le développement langagier des apprenants en termes de complexité, précision, aisance à communiquer et chunks. 953 étudiants français et allemands ont renseigné un questionnaire d’environ 60 questions sur leurs pratiques informelles en ligne en anglais. Les résultats montrent des habitudes similaires entres les deux cohortes, une préférence pour les activités de compréhension plutôt que de production, des taux bas d’apprentissage explicite et des raisons de participer liées au contenu des activités plutôt qu’à la langue. Ensuite deux études de cas ont été réalisées sur 10 mois. Des données orales et écrites ont été analysées. Les résultats indiquent que chaque apprenant possède son propre profil AIAL et que les trajectoires de développement sont individuelles et non linéaires. / Preliminary research regarding the online informal learning of English has shown that L2 development can result from participation in informal activities online. The goal of this dissertation is to examine the range of these online practices and to analyse university students’ long-term L2 development through their participation in such activities.953 French and German university students responded to a questionnaire containing approximately 60 questions regarding their online informal activities in English. Results from this survey show many similar practices between the two cohorts, a preference for comprehension over production and interaction activities, low rates of active (explicit) learning and content-associated rather than language-associated reasons for participating. Case studies were subsequently carried out. Oral and written data were collected over 10 months and analysed for complexity, accuracy and fluency measures as well as the use of language chunks. Results show that each language user interacts with the activities in his/her own unique style and that the different L2 measures evolve non-linearly and in relation to one another.