The global world confronted with environmental and development problems. Rising interest for these environmental concerns on the global agenda and the efforts to negotiate environment and development issues produced the term sustainable development. United Nations report, Our Common Future, highlighted three fundamental components of sustainable development as environmental protection, economic growth and social equity. Local Agenda 21 (LA21) is the program where local communities promote solutions to sustainable development issues at local level. The purpose of this study is to explore the intersection points between participation and LA21 and to investigate LA21&rsquo / s new participatory platforms contribution to citizens&rsquo / participation to local government structure. In order to elaborate the relation between participation and LA21, a survey study was applied to Denizli LA21 women working group. Through the survey following research areas were tried to be addressed, which were / municipality effect on LA21 and participation, the closest LA21 participation mode and strategy of Denizli women working group according to two European LA21 studies, the strengths and weaknesses of LA21 in Denizli. Findings of the survey indicates that Denizli LA21 process facilitates the women participation to local administration with the support of Denizli municipality, and also the study results show that Denizli women working group activities are similar with some participation modes and strategies of European LA21 implementations. Thus, within the limitation of the survey, it is one of the first studies in Turkey that attempts to examine LA21 practice and its implications for participation in specific.

This thesis investigates if it is possible to speak about a virtual culture. If so, it seeks to answers to the following questions: Is it possible to mention a culture peculiar to cyberspace or virtual culture is just a mirror of real life culture? Where does the body position? How have been identities experienced? What does fluid and fragmented identity mean? Does it offer a space of opportunities? How has been gender formed on cyberspace? Is removal of gender barriers possible? Answers to all these questions have been explored through text-based virtual reality environments on the Internet called MUDs in which creating alternative identities is possible. A survey and interviews as well as direct and participant observations for the exploration of MUD environments have been conducted. Mostly, MUDs called, LambdaMOO and Aardwolf, and then Cab&uuml / lka Cab&uuml / lsa have become central sites of observations and interviews. The findings show that cyberspace has its rules and limitations which are not independent from the real world. Since gender is a key component indicating the society interacts, culture of cyberspace cannot stay aside. Despite possibility of gender switching, stereotypical gender performances continue to exist. However cyberspace is a new and rich communication environment in respect of facilities it offers and its future structure and form largely depend on the users.

The relations between Turkey and the European Union and the current developments concerning this process are important issues which have direct and indirect effects on the economic, political and social dynamics in Turkey. In this context the European Union has also become an important subject of political debates in Turkey. This thesis analyses the roles and approaches of the political components within the framework of Turkish Social Democratic Movement in the process of the determination of the Turkey-European Union relations. This thesis will provide a chance to conceive how the European Union and the relations between Turkey and the European Union are considered and assessed by Turkish Social Democrats who are one of the most important components of Turkish politics that have also submitted significant contributions to the Turkey-European Union relations.

The present study lays bare the relationship between nature and the individual in the novels of D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf through an analysis of their uses of natural images. It starts with an overview of the different view points of different critics who have studied these writers&rsquo / uses of nature and the way these writers treat nature. This critical overview eventually affirmed that the relationship between the individual and nature is central to these writers&rsquo / uses of nature. Being modernist writers, D.H. Lawrence and Virginia Woolf are both interested in the psychology of individuals. Although they differ in their ways of depiction, they employ natural imagery to depict the psychology of the individuals, which can be defined as their Romantic sensibility toward nature. In both writers, though nature is more central to Lawrence&rsquo / s works than to those of Woolf&rsquo / s, nature is of great importance in the creation and representation of characters. Through their contact with nature, their characters experience self-realization as they reveal their hidden selves and as they find ties between their selves and nature. More specifically, this study tries to examine how Lawrence and Woolf depict nature in order to reveal the psychology of characters in relation to their experiencing self-realization in Lawrence&rsquo / s Women in Love (1920) and The Plumed Serpent (1926) and Woolf&rsquo / s The Voyage Out (1915) and Orlando: A Biography (1928).

This study proposes a new model for the assessment of information technology (IT) use in public and private companies, which is called ITMEM- Information Technology Management Enhancement Model. This model aims to assist decision making processes in information technology management. For this purpose, a tool is developed to explore strengths and weaknesses of a company in IT use. The model was developed upon a three-folded structure including (1) academic studies in technology management, (2) best practices which are developed for control over operations and processes including COBIT, CMMI and ITIL, and (3) standards about IT management and IT security. The conceptual framework of ITMEM is based on technology management process assessment model of M.J. Gregory. Methodological triangulation approach is adopted for the model for retrieving valid and reliable results. Triangulation consists of (1) semi structured interview, (2) presented company documents and (3) questionnaire developed upon relevant academic researches, best practices and standards. ITMEM was practiced on ten domestic and experienced companies in software &amp / development and manufacturing industries which were appraised in or in progress of being appraised in CMMI. The study revealed the benefits and deficiencies of IT use in the company. It also provided information for decision makers about IT value within companies, and demonstrated the effects of best practices and standards over IT use.The reported findings should be valuable assets to researchers studying on IT management and IT use in organizations.

This thesis aims to analyse the architectural production in Turkey during the Second World War period with reference to its socio-political contexts, by examining and scrutinizing an architectural periodical published in this period: Yapi. The conceptual framework of this study about the practical and ideological aspects of the discipline are drawn by considering the developments and dynamics of the early Republican Period. In the first chapter of the study after the introduction, the functions of periodical publications for the cultural atmosphere and the architectural periodicals for the discipline of architecture in particular, are examined in the direction of clarifying the reason of choosing a periodical for an architectural analysis of a specific period. In the following part of this chapter, the early Republican architectural periodicals are introduced together with their reasons of establishment and the architectural conditions of the period. Lastly, the focus of this study, Yapi, is introduced with its identity as a periodical by examining its founders, content and publication quality. In the second chapter, firstly architecture of the country throughout the early Republican period is examined by focusing on the significance and effects of the Second World War on Turkey so as to reveal the existing medium that compelled the architects and intellectuals to reconsider their points of view. The second part of this chapter attempts to make a comparative architectural analysis of the period based on the approaches and articles of Yapi by determining the characteristics and objectives of the periodical and demonstrating the main arguments of the editors and authors on contemporary architectural practice and ideology. In the conclusion part, the outcomes of the analysis of Yapi and its arguments on the architecture and contextual developments of the Second World War period are evaluated in correlation with the meaning and place of these struggles in the contemporary medium of architecture.

Over the recent years, the learning capacity and knowledge creation ability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have been increasingly highlighted. Cluster concept represents as a geographical agglomeration where SMEs overcome the structural constraint and develop inter-firm relationships based on the trust. The trust based inter-firm relations increase the opportunity of SMEs to establish cooperation and competition linkages. The present study investigated SMEs in textile sector to identify the inter-firm relationships in Adana Organized Industry Zone. The aim of this study is development of policy recommendations for promoting inter-firm relationships of SMEs. First, we present the theoretical perspective of various approaches the cluster concept, strategic elements of cluster, advantages of clustering and competitive and cooperation advantages. Then we explain the SMEs concept mainly emphasized on the basic weaknesses of SMEs. In this regard, we analyze the main characteristics of textile SMEs in AOSB based on the innovative performance and inter-firm relations. Two main aspects are concluded from the survey results. Textile SMEs in AOSB require developing more relationships with firms and institutions to constitute cooperation and higher innovation services to gain competitiveness.

This thesis analyses the emergence and evolution of the think-tanks in Turkey. It seeks primarily to answer to whether or not it is possible to mention &lsquo / a think-tank culture&rsquo / in Turkey. After the definition, characteristics and types of the think-tank term are debated, the historical background of think-tanks all over the world is analyzed. The thesis looks at similarities and differences among the think-tanks in and outside Turkey in terms of their size and areas of specialization. It also tries to find out who are pioneering to the establishment of think-tanks, whom the think-tanks are serving, which financial resources and functions they have in Turkey.

The present study investigated self-presentational predictors of shyness among university students via a mediational causal model, in which socially-prescribed perfectionism, perceived social skills, and perceived parental attitudes were proposed to interact with fear of negative evaluation and self-esteem to predict shyness. The sample consisted of 497 undergraduate students (287 females, 210 males) selected from Middle East Technical University by stratified random sampling. Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale, Socially-Prescribed Perfectionism Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Social Skills Inventory-Short, and Parental Attitude Scale were used in data collection. Pilot studies were conducted for assessing the reliability and validity of Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale, Revised Cheek and Buss Shyness Scale, and Social Skills Inventory-Short. Path analysis was utilized to test the causal model. The results revealed that shyness was positively predicted from fear of negative evaluation and socially-prescribed perfectionism / and negatively from self-esteem and perceived social skills. Fear of negative evaluation was predicted positively from socially-prescribed perfectionism and perceived strictness/supervision from parents, and negatively from self-esteem / whereas self-esteem was predicted positively from perceived social skills, perceived parental psychological autonomy and acceptance/involvement, and negatively from socially-prescribed perfectionism. These findings suggested that fear of negative evaluation partially mediated the relationship between shyness and socially-prescribed perfectionism / between shyness and perceived parental strictness/supervision / and between shyness and self-esteem. In addition, self-esteem partially mediated the association of shyness with socially-prescribed perfectionism / with perceived social skills / with parental acceptance/involvement / and with parental psychological autonomy. Findings are discussed within the self-presentational framework of shyness.

This dissertation is an exploratory research that analyzes the representation of the state and its relationship with society in the meaning worlds of the Turkish bureaucrats. Accordingly, the research question of this dissertation has to do with political representation in the mindsets of bureaucratic actors. Regarding this question, we focused on the theory of representative bureaucracy and addressed its inadequacies in analyzing the issue of bureaucratic representation. In our view, representation is a phenomenon related to a particular mode of understanding that creates commonsense. It involves the contextual varieties of taken for granted knowledge that constitutes the basis of one&rsquo / s social world, which the theory of representative bureaucracy fails to question. In this respect, our research intended to discover how do bureaucrats order and arrange the meaning of state-society relationship in their minds. We conducted our research in the Capital Markets Board of Turkey, the Ministry of Finance, and the Turkish Military Academy. We used the methods of multidimensional scaling and hierarchical cluster analysis to reveal the latent meaning patterns in the meaning worlds of the bureaucrats. The results of our analysis pointed out two major findings. Our first finding indicated the reductionism of the theory of representative bureaucracy in understanding and interpreting the meaning worlds of the Turkish bureaucrats. Our second finding involved the significant similarities as well as the differences in the meaning worlds of the bureaucratic organizations. These variations demonstrated how the organizations of the same state might differ due to distinct organizational ideologies.