This thesis aims to analyze Islamic rhetoric of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and its underlying objectives and reasons by examining policies, speeches and declarations of the PLO, Fateh and Yasser Arafat. It is widely accepted that the PLO functiones according to secular rules / perceives Israel, Palestine and the Israeli-Palestinian question on Palestinian nationalist and Third worldist grounds. However in spite of its secular functioning and goals, the PLO since its inception has referred to Islamic rhetoric on natinal struggle of Palestine&rsquo / s liberation. Henceforth it is argued that the PLO has chosen a pragmatist and instrumentalist language in referring to Islamic symbols and discourses. Islamic rhetoric of the PLO has aimed primarily to mobilize the Palestinians for national goals and to legitimize the PLO against rising power of political Islam headed by Hamas. Furthermore the thesis also demonstrates that the PLO&rsquo / s Islamic rhetoric was affected by Palestinian society&rsquo / s shift along Islamic lines and Islamic component of Palestinian nationalism and culture. The PLO seemed to intensify its resort to Islamic rhetoric with every crisis that decreased the PLO&rsquo / s authority and power. It is concluded that content of the PLO&rsquo / s pragmatic Islamic rhetoric was never related with making Islam as normative and legal basis of Palestinian society, rather it was related with mobilization and legitimating.

Analog television systems are rapidly being replaced by digital television systems accross the world. Turkey is not an exception to this development since the government has recently decided to shut-down analog television transmission across the country by 2016. In this context, subject matter of this study is the adoption of digital television in Turkey. And the study&rsquo / s main aim is to understand and explain the economical and political rationale behind the conversion to digital television. In the switch process to digital television, digital television has been presented as a new &ldquo / revolutionary&rdquo / technology which is primarily to enhance the television &ldquo / service&rdquo / for viewers by the champions of the process and the governments. However, this study takes a critical position against this argument and argues that the adoption of digital television is primarily shaped by the commercial stakes of private broadcasting organisations and administrative concerns of governments. In this respect, this thesis argues that even though the digital television has technical superiorities to analog television systems which facilitates the introduction more television channels with higher audio-visual quality, the adoption of digital television does not include any project to improve the quality of television content, the equal access to information in the society and thus citizenship in a democratic society. Quite the contrary, since digital television facilitates and improves pay television implementations, digital television seems to deteriorate the imbalance in the society in accessing the information. It is therefore necessary to put &ldquo / reserve&rdquo / on the expectations from digital television. To articulate this thesis, different national contexts including USA and Britain as leading countries and Turkey in digital television conversion process are dealt with in the study. Firstly, the American and Britain experience of digital television which does not exclude the European context are examined in terms of common developments as well as the pecularities of the countries concerning to switch to digital television. Lastly, in the framework given above, the developments as to the digital television in Turkey are examined in detail. As well as the assessments about recent developments as to the issue, interviews carried out with the representatives of the broadcasting industry and regulatory authorities are also included in the analysis. Hence, this study should be considered as a descriptive research which aims to contribute the academic efforts to develop a conceptual framework to the digital television debate in Turkey.

The aim of the represent research was to investigate the relationship between illusion of control, optimism bias, locus of control, and drivers&rsquo / risk-taking behavior among Turkish drivers. A total of 307 drivers completed the Driver Behavior Questionnaire, the Driver Skills Inventory, the Optimism Bias Scale, the Multidimensional Traffic Locus of Control Scale, and Rotter&rsquo / s Internality Externality Scale. In chapter one, comparison between perceived risk as driver and perceived risk as passenger demonstrated existence of illusion f control among drivers. Drivers&rsquo / risk assignments were different when imagining themselves as drivers and passenger. Illusion of control was found to be related to the total number of accidents, especially involvement in active accidents. This indicates a positive relationship between illusion of control and risk-taking behavior. In the second chapter, optimism bias was found in drivers&rsquo / risk likelihood estimations for accident involvement in the future. Drivers estimated their risk of being involved in four types of accidents as less than an average driver. Optimism bias was related to self-reported violations and strong evaluation of driving and safety skills as strong. Young and novice drivers were more realistic in their risk estimations. In the third chapter, relationship between locus of control and risk-taking was investigated. Only fate scale correlated with violations. Drivers who attribute accident causes to fate were more likely to commit violations. The limitations of the current research and implications for further research were discussed.

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.