The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparative effects of prediction/discussion-based learning cycle (HPD-LC), conceptual change text (CCT), and traditional instructions (TI) on 8th grade students&rsquo / understanding of genetics concepts and on their perceived motivation and perceived use of learning strategies. This study was carried out during 2006-2007 fall semester at a public elementary school in Ankara. A total of eighty-one 8th grade students from three intact classes were involved in the quantitative part of this study. Students in the first and second experimental groups instructed with HPD-LC and CCT, respectively. The students in control group received TI. In the qualitative part, pre- and post-instructional interviews held with six students were interpreted by using a multidimensional interpretive framework of conceptual change. In this study the Genetics Concept Test was administered as pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test in order to examine the effects of instructional strategies on students&rsquo / genetics understanding and retention. The Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire was administered as pre-test and post-test to examine the effects of instructional strategies on students&rsquo / motivation and use of learning strategies. The results of mixed between-within subjects ANOVA revealed that students in both experimental groups understood the genetics concepts and retained their knowledge significantly better than students in control group. One-way MANOVA results revealed that HPD-LC students used elaboration strategies significantly more than CCT students. Interview analysis by considering ontological, epistemological, and social/affective perspectives of conceptual change indicated that some students from each group underwent conceptual change concerning the genetics concepts.

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the importance of abnormally low tenders for Turkey, understand the problems created by abnormally low tenders, find reasons of them, develop various methods in reducing abnormally low tender problem and determine the most appropriate method. In this thesis, reasons of abnormally low tenders in Europe and Turkey were investigated. Various recommendations were developed for solving the problem and validity of these solutions was investigated. Different results were obtained due to the different social structure of countries. Besides, abnormally low tender evaluation questionnaire was used to find reasons of abnormally low tenders in Turkey. This questionnaire reached to 430 firms or people and by detailed analysis of questionnaire, reasons of abnormally low tenders were found out and some solution methods were proposed.

The main objective of this study is to shed light on some difficulties involved in the formulation of the problem of contingency in Leibniz&rsquo / s philosophical system. Leibniz&rsquo / s mature philosophy is characterized by the solutions he proposes for this problem, and the ontological ideas underlying or assisting them. &lsquo / The problem of contingency&rsquo / refers to the tension between his conceptual containment theory of truth and his claim that true existential propositions &ndash / that is, propositions which concern actual individuals &ndash / are all contingent. Though Leibniz does not seem to have one definite theory of contingency, two general lines of thought can nevertheless be discerned from his fragments on propositions and propositional truth. The first one is the infinite analysis theory, which is regarded in general as Leibniz&rsquo / s real theory of contingency, and the other is a theory of necessity, providing a division between absolute and hypothetical modalities. This thesis is not a study on the question whether Leibniz did really manage to solve the problem, but rather an attempt to trace the problem to its logical and ontological origins, and redefine it under a relatively simple form. It is first shown that Leibniz&rsquo / s theory of propositions relies heavily on his ontological conception of modalities, which covers the idea of a division between pure possibility and actuality / and then this idea is shown to be reflected on the logical level as a division between essential and existential truths. Finally it is argued that the two lines of thought and some peculiar characteristics of Leibniz&rsquo / s conception of modalities bring us to the conclusion that his real problem is the (deliberate) inability of his propositional calculus to express the difference between truths of reason (essential truths) and truths of fact (existential truths) as a logical structural one.

Estimation of construction durations is a very crucial part of project planning, as several key decisions are based on the estimated durations. In general, construction durations are estimated by using planning and scheduling techniques such as Gannt or bar chart, the Critical Path Method (CPM), and the Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT). However, these techniques usually require detailed design information for estimation of activity durations and determination of the sequencing of the activities. In some cases, pre-design duration estimates may be performed by using these techniques, however, accuracy of these estimates mainly depends on the experience of the planning engineer. In this study, it is aimed to develop and compare alternative methods for conceptual duration estimation of building constructions with basic data information available at the early stages of projects. Five parametric duration estimation models are developed with the data of 17 building projects which were constructed by a contractor in United States. Regression analysis and artificial neural networks are used in the development of these five duration estimation models. A parametric cost estimation model is developed using regression analysis for cost estimations to be used in calculating the prediction performances of cost based duration estimation models. Finally, prediction performances of all parametric duration estimation models are determined and compared. The models provided reasonably accurate estimates for construction durations. The results also indicated that construction durations can be predicted accurately without making an estimate for the project cost.

This study puts forward two complementary evolutionary models and explores the potential of the proposed models and the related theses by employing two case studies. The theoretical/conceptual framework of the study refers to architectural theory, design research, and evolutionary epistemology. The study mainly involves application of some key ideas from evolutionary epistemology, Popper&amp / #8217 / s three-world ontology, and the theory of evolution to the field of architecture. The first model is about the nature of the architectural ideas or thought contents and it introduces the idea of conceptual inheritance and an evolutionary conception of architectural ideas. The model proposes a framework that offers an understanding of the life and existence of architectural ideas and their inheritance. It also puts forward an expanded view of architectural ideas that conceives all the thought contents, which architectural designs (or works) and the architectural design process might concern, as architectural ideas. In order to illustrate and discuss the model, some of the architectural ideas carried by Mario Botta&amp / #8217 / s single-family house in Breganzona are selected and the evolutionary lineage of these ideas have been identified and examined in their instances in some of Botta&amp / #8217 / s own designs and in some designs from architectural tradition. The second model is an evolutionary model of the architectural design process. While emphasizing the evolutionary or selectionist character of architectural design in terms of process and inner dynamics, the model conceives architectural design as a process consisting of the two stages of forming/making, and evaluation/selection where in the first stage formative ideas, in the second, selective conditions are operational. In order to illustrate the potentialities of the model, the sketches and the drawings produced during the design process of Mario Botta&amp / #8217 / s single-family house in Breganzona are examined.

Multidisciplinary design optimization of aerospace vehicles has attracted interest of many researchers. Well known aerospace companies are developing tools for the mutlidisciplinary design optimization. However, the multiobjective optimization of the design is a new and important area investigated very little by the researchers. This thesis will examine the approaches to the multiobjective and mutlidisciplinary design optimization of rockets and missiles. In the study, multiobjective optimization method called MC-MOSA will be used.

The present study mainly focuses on the effect of cooperative learning based on conceptual change conditions to remedy 11th grade students&rsquo / misconceptions related to reaction rate. Also, effect of this method on their motivation was investigated. A total of 110 eleventh grade students participated in the study. Two schools in Ankara and two classes being instructed by the same teacher in each school were included in the sample. One of the classes was randomly assigned as a control group instructed by traditional way and the other as an experimental group instructed by cooperative learning based on conceptual change conditions. This study was conducted on 2008-2009 first semester over six weeks. Reaction Rate Concept Test and Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire were administered as pre-test and post-test to measure students&rsquo / understanding of reaction rate, and their motivation. Moreover, Science Process Skill Test was given before instruction to decide whether there was a significant difference between two groups in their science process skills. ANCOVA was used to evaluate the effect of cooperative learning on students&rsquo / understanding of reaction rate. The results indicated that cooperative learning based on conceptual change conditions removed most of students&rsquo / misconceptions about reaction rate concept and resulted in a significantly better understanding of reaction rate than traditional instruction. Furthermore, data reflecting the effect of conceptual change based cooperative learning on students&rsquo / motivation was analyzed by MANOVA. According to the results, cooperative learning based on conceptual change conditions improved intrinsic goal orientation, and self-efficacy for learning and performance.

Helping to abstract a valid model from real system, conceptual modeling is an essential phase in simulation development lifecycle. With the development of the KAMA framework, a new methodology was presented to develop mission space conceptual model for simulation systems. It provides metamodel elements represented by graphical diagrams to develop conceptual models of mission space. BOM (Base Object Model), developed by SISO (Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization), is another conceptual modeling concept serving for simulation space. KAMA models are very close to problem domain and intend to model real world concepts in requirement analysis and development phase. Whereas, being vital inputs for the simulation design phase, BOM models are closer to solution domain. Hence there is no defined way of using the captured mission space knowledge in simulation space, problem arises when moving from requirement analysis to design phase. In this study, to solve this problem, we propose a method for transforming mission space conceptual models in simulation space. Our solution approach will be mapping the KAMA mission space models to BOM simulation space models for automatically transport real world analysis results to simulation designers.

Context-aware computing is based on using knowledge about the current context. Interpretation of current context to an understandable knowledge is carried out by reasoning over context and in some cases by matching the current context with the desired context. In this thesis we concentrated on context matching issue in context-aware computing domain. Context matching can be done in various ways like it is done in other matching processes. Our matching approach is best matching in order to generate granular similarity results and not to be limited to Boolean values. We decided to use Ontology as the encoded domain knowledge for our matching method. Context matching method is related to the method that we represent context. We selected conceptual graphs to represent the context. We proposed a generic algorithm for context matching based on the ontological information that benefit from the conceptual graph theory and its advantages.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of argumentation based instruction on sixth grade students