In this thesis work, it was aimed to optimize the conditions to produce silicon carbide (SiC), from rice husks from Turkish Thrace Region, via pyrolysis. Rice husks, coked at 500oC, were high energy ball-milled prior to pyrolysis, in order to investigate the effects of ball-milling on pyrolysis temperature, pyrolysis time and morphology of the SiC produced. Samples of rice husks subjected to different ball milling conditions, were pyrolyzed at temperatures varying from 1500oC to 1600oC and for times varying from &frac12 / hour to 2 hours. Results of experiments showed that, ball-milling reduced the pyrolysis temperature and pyrolysis time to some extent. It was also experimentally shown that ball-milling favored the formation of SiC particles rather than formation of SiC whisker.

This dissertation presents three experiments to investigate the general distribution of hand preference across a reachable working space, as well as the effect of sensory information about the reaching hand, and if this distribution is affected by long term practice. In addition, the underlying mechanisms of hand preference behavior were investigated with the obtained kinematic data. Experiment 1 explored the distribution of hand preferences across the workspace among non-athlete right-handed participants, as well as the role that visual feedback might play in this distribution. Experiment 2 tested the hypothesis, if occlusion of visual feedback influences hand preference, accordingly interlimb differences. The third final experiment examined the effect of long term practice on hand preference among right-handed elite fencers. The first study showed that the choice of arms is related to the energetic cost and dynamic efficiency of the movements. The results of the second experiment displayed that the choice of hands changes under no visual feedback condition, demonstrating that the choice is active and not habitual, depending on sensorimotor performance asymmetries. The final experiment demonstrated that elite athletes have different patterns of limb selection than non- athletes. Athletes, specifically fencers, show improved coordination in their non-dominant arms, which apparently increases the selection of this arm for reaching. Overall, it was concluded that hand preference depends on sensorimotor performance asymmetries and influenced by the long term practice.

Design needs to collaborate with many other disciplines to achieve success. Ergonomics is one of these disciplines that design needs its collaboration. A designed object should be in good relation with the human body and cognitive system to be effectively used by its potential users. Changes in the competitive market have forced firms to enhance product differentiation for achieving market success. Design is widely used as one of the differentiation tools. As a component of design, ergonomics should also be integrated into the design process to fulfill the user requirements. There are success stories of companies integrating ergonomics into their design process and achieving differentiation and success on their products through the results of this integration. Even their marketing strategies are based on this integration. It is observed that there are some missing points in the integration of ergonomics into consumer electronics design which make results in poor interaction with the end users. The background of this problem is investigated by reviewing design processes of four different firms and integration of ergonomics into these processes. The information on the cases is collected by literal information for the former three companies and information based on the participant observation results and company reports for the last company.